This interdisciplinary Handbook combines both mainstream and heterodox economics to assess the nature, scope and importance of leisure activity. Surprisingly, the field of leisure economics is not, thus far, a particularly integrated or coherent one. In this Handbook a wide ranging body of international scholars get to grips with this issue, taking in the traditional income/leisure choice model of textbook microeconomics and Becker's allocation of time model along the way. They expertly apply economics to some usually neglected topics, such as boredom, sleeping and social networking which encourages a move towards an integrate field of economics of leisure. Contributions from further afield by Veblen, Sctivosky and Bourdieu also feature prominently.

Applying a mix of theoretical and empirical work, undergraduate students in modules on sport/leisure economics as well as sport/leisure management will find this important resource invaluable.

Contributors: V. Ateca-Amestoy, G. Bakker, A. Balestrino, S. Banerjee, G. Black, S. Cameron, A. Collins, A. Cooke, J. Cox, L. David, G. Doyle, P.E. Earl, V.G. Fitzsimons, V. Flambard, M. Fox, S. Hussels, K. Jackson, G. Larsen, L.J.A. Lenten, L. Mintz, D. O'Reilly, D. Paton, T.-C. Peng, R.K. Pillania, S. Scott, A.B. Trigg, N. Vaillant, D.L. Wheeler, F.-C. Wolff