The economic implications of public holidays remain inconclusive. Certain studies report that public holidays reduce the available labour supply, leading to diminished firm productivity and, subsequently, lower economic growth. Conversely, other research highlights their stimulative effect, particularly through increased private consumption and demand during holiday periods, which may support growth. This study explores these conflicting outcomes by analysing data from 101 countries. The primary model employs real GDP growth as the response variable, with explanatory variables including the number of public holidays, The analysis incorporates key macroeconomic indicators such as growth in labour productivity, increases in capital stock, tourism development, institutional governance quality, inflows of foreign direct investment, and shifts in urbanization. The initial assessment employs linear estimations through Ordinary Least Squares with heteroskedasticity-consistent standard errors, alongside Robust regression utilizing M-estimation techniques. Both methods reveal a weak linear association between public holidays and growth. We then examine a potential non-linear connection and identify an inverted U-shaped pattern: economic growth initially rises with additional public holidays, up to a certain threshold, after which it begins to decline. To validate these findings, quantile regression is applied. The analysis indicates that the optimal number of public holidays varies by growth quantile: 9 days for the 30th�40th percentiles, 10 days for the 50th�60th, 11 days for the 70th, and 12 days for the 80th�90th percentiles. Our findings recommend that governments identify a balanced number of holidays to maintain stable and sustainable economic performance.

Several economists, policymakers, and civil servants have raised concerns regarding the proposal to increase Malaysia's statutory retirement age from 60 to 65 years, arguing that such a change may exacerbate youth unemployment. This argument, however, stems from the long-discredited fallacy, which incorrectly posits that the number of jobs within an economy is fixed albeit what is deemed as "lump-of-labour". According to this fallacy, employment opportunities for younger individuals would be reduced with the consistent presence of senior (in terms of age) employees, resulting the labour market to be a zero-sum game where younger and older workers compete for a limited number of positions. This perspective has significantly influenced public resistance to raising the retirement age. Nevertheless, a considerable body of empirical evidence contradicts this assumption, suggesting that the employment of senior individuals does not necessarily diminish employment prospects for younger cohorts. This study offers robust empirical insights into the relationship between older and younger workers in Malaysia from 1982 to 2021. Specifically, it examines those aged 15-24 as younger workers and those aged 55-64 as older workers. Using various employment-related indicators - including total employment, employment rates, labour force participation rates, and unemployment rates, we employ several econometric techniques, including Ordinary Least Squares (OLS), robust regression, Fully Modified OLS (FMOLS), and quantile regression. Our findings consistently demonstrate that the employment of senior employees does not undermine the employment prospects of younger individuals. On the contrary, the results reveal a complementary nexus between these two age groups, suggesting that increasing the retirement age could be advantageous not only for younger workers but also for the broader economy.