This thesis, as its title indicates, deals primarily with the economic aspects of shorter hours. The emphasis throughout the thesis is upon economic principles combined with explanatory factual material. With labor issues on the front pages of newspapers, the reader may acquire many miscellaneous scraps of information about labor, but he generally lacks an understanding of the underlying forces that explain the surface facts. If, however, a firm theoretical foundation is developed to which various factual material may be attached in a meaningful manner, not only is the reader less likely to forget the facts but he has a basis for interpreting new data and current affairs. He then is in a position to relate new facts to old ones and to evaluate existing labor policies. / Master of Science