The fundamental objective of the study is to provide a basis for the formulation of public policies to curb overwork. To this end, it is necessary to examine overwork not only from the perspective of medicine, but also that of the public policy. The research analyzes factors of labor productivity and institutions leading to excessive labor in the historical evolution from primitive society, agricultural society, industrial society to post-industrial society, examines the historical evolution of overwork, and explores the focus of public policies to curb overwork. The study concludes that the formation of overwork is infl uenced by factors such as labor productivity and institutions concerned. To be specifi c, workers who seek to maximize utility choose to work excessively in conditions of low labor productivity. Under this situation, public policy intervention is neither necessary nor effective. Instead, only when excessive work is caused by the system is there a certain amount of room for the public policy to manoeuvre.