[go: up one dir, main page]
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/wiw/wiwrsa/ersa14p1320.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Would you commute further for extra money? Region specific income effects on commuting distances

Author

Listed:
  • Anette Haas
  • Malte Reichelt
Abstract
We start referring to the striking phenomena that over the past decades commuting distances in Germany have steadily risen, although commuting costs increased over-proportionally. This is surprising, as urban economic theory predicts increasing commuting distances especially for higher income, which indicates that either other factors must drive the increase in commuting distances or the income effect may not be as general as so far assumed. We pick up urban economic theory and assume sequential optimization of place of work and residence, occupational specialization and a structure mono- and polycentric sub-labor-markets. Based on these assumptions, we obtain differential predictions on regional income effects and overall commuting distances, which can as well be an explanation for the increasing commuting distances on an aggregate level. To test our assumptions we use both--process data from the German Federal Employment Agency and retrospective life-course data from the German ALWA-ADIAB survey. We draw on the former to show that indeed macro developments of commuter shares and distances match our assumptions and the latter to analyze the determinants of commuting distance on an individual level, focusing especially on the income effect. Identifying the income effect is not straightforward, as employers may reimburse employees for commuting longer distances, thus leading to a causal effect of commuting distance on income rather than vice versa. We account for endogeneity with sensitivity analyses excluding the group of employees who have the highest bargaining power and show that reverse causality does not seem to be a major issue. Income effects do not substantially vary excluding or including this specific group. Descriptively, we can show that commuting distances rise from urban to rural areas. Using a mixed-effects design to disentangle time variant and constant effects for both, individuals and regions, we show that first employees with higher income reside further away from their workplace. Second, we show that a possible change in income results in a small further increase in commuting distance--supporting the assumption of sequential optimization. Third, we show that predominantly employees residing in urban areas increase their relative commuting distance for higher income. In rural areas, where appropriate jobs are rare, commuting longer distances into economic centers seems to prohibit a positive income effect. The results suggest that the positive income effect on commuting, which is found in other studies, does not exist for everyone and heavily depends on the residential location.

Suggested Citation

  • Anette Haas & Malte Reichelt, 2014. "Would you commute further for extra money? Region specific income effects on commuting distances," ERSA conference papers ersa14p1320, European Regional Science Association.
    • Handle: RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa14p1320
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www-sre.wu.ac.at/ersa/ersaconfs/ersa14/e140826aFinal01320.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Manning, Alan, 2003. "The real thin theory: monopsony in modern labour markets," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 10(2), pages 105-131, April.
    2. Brenzel, Hanna & Gartner, Hermann & Schnabel, Claus, 2014. "Wage bargaining or wage posting? Evidence from the employers' side," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 41-48.
    3. Autor, David H., 2013. "The "task approach" to labor markets : an overview," Journal for Labour Market Research, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 46(3), pages 185-199.
    4. Guy Michaels & Ferdinand Rauch & Stephen J Redding, 2019. "Task Specialization in U.S. Cities from 1880 to 2000," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 17(3), pages 754-798.
    5. O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), 2011. "Handbook of Labor Economics," Handbook of Labor Economics, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 4, number 4.
    6. Eva Gutiérrez-i-Puigarnau & Ismir Mulalic & Jos N. van Ommeren, 2016. "Do rich households live farther away from their workplaces?," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 16(1), pages 177-201.
    7. O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), 2011. "Handbook of Labor Economics," Handbook of Labor Economics, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 4, number 5.
    8. Small, Kenneth A & Song, Shunfeng, 1992. ""Wasteful" Commuting: A Resolution," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 100(4), pages 888-898, August.
    9. Edward L. Glaeser & Joshua D. Gottlieb, 2009. "The Wealth of Cities: Agglomeration Economies and Spatial Equilibrium in the United States," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 47(4), pages 983-1028, December.
    10. Patacchini, Eleonora & Zenou, Yves, 2005. "Spatial mismatch, transport mode and search decisions in England," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(1), pages 62-90, July.
    11. Clark, William A. V. & Huang, Youqin & Withers, Suzanne, 2003. "Does commuting distance matter?: Commuting tolerance and residential change," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 199-221, March.
    12. Michael Wallerstein & Miriam Golden & Peter Lange, "undated". "Unions, Employers Associations, and Wage-Setting Institutions in North and Central Europe, 1950-1992," IPR working papers 96-12, Institute for Policy Resarch at Northwestern University.
    13. Stefan P.T. Groot & Henri L.F. de Groot & Paolo Veneri, 2012. "The Educational Bias in Commuting Patterns: Micro-Evidence for the Netherlands," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 12-080/3, Tinbergen Institute.
    14. Diego Puga, 2010. "The Magnitude And Causes Of Agglomeration Economies," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(1), pages 203-219, February.
    15. Jos van Ommeren & Piet Rietveld & Peter Nijkamp & Jos van Ommeren & Piet Rietveld & Peter Nijkamp, 2004. "Job Moving, Residential Moving, and Commuting: A Search Perspective," Chapters, in: Location, Travel and Information Technology, chapter 11, pages 223-246, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    16. DaVanzo, Julie, 1983. "Repeat Migration in the United States: Who Moves Back and Who Moves On?," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 65(4), pages 552-559, November.
    17. Zax, Jeffrey S, 1991. "The Substitution between Moves and Quits," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 101(409), pages 1510-1521, November.
    18. Jan K. Brueckner, 2000. "Urban Sprawl: Diagnosis and Remedies," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 23(2), pages 160-171, April.
    19. Travisi, Chiara M. & Camagni, Roberto & Nijkamp, Peter, 2010. "Impacts of urban sprawl and commuting: a modelling study for Italy," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 18(3), pages 382-392.
    20. Gabriel Ahlfeldt, 2011. "If Alonso Was Right: Modeling Accessibility And Explaining The Residential Land Gradient," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(2), pages 318-338, May.
    21. Antoni, Manfred & Jacobebbinghaus, Peter & Seth, Stefan, 2011. "ALWA-Befragungsdaten verknüpft mit administrativen Daten des IAB 1975-2009 (ALWA-ADIAB 7509)," FDZ-Datenreport. Documentation on Labour Market Data 201105, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    22. Rouwendal, Jan, 1999. "Spatial job search and commuting distances," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(4), pages 491-517, July.
    23. Mark W. Horner & Alan T. Murray, 2002. "Excess Commuting and the Modifiable Areal Unit Problem," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 39(1), pages 131-139, January.
    24. White, Michelle J., 1988. "Location choice and commuting behavior in cities with decentralized employment," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 129-152, September.
    25. J. V. Henderson & J. F. Thisse (ed.), 2004. "Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 4, number 4.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Reichelt, Malte & Haas, Anette, 2015. "Commuting farther and earning more? : how employment density moderates workers commuting distance," IAB-Discussion Paper 201533, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    2. Anette Haas & Malte Reichelt, 2015. "Larger pay, longer drives? Location specific wage effects on commuting distances," ERSA conference papers ersa15p1139, European Regional Science Association.
    3. Ana Maria Bonomi Barufi & Eduardo Amaral Haddad & Peter Nijkamp, 2016. "Industrial scope of agglomeration economies in Brazil," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 56(3), pages 707-755, May.
    4. Caliendo, Marco & Cobb-Clark, Deborah A. & Hennecke, Juliane & Uhlendorff, Arne, 2019. "Locus of control and internal migration," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    5. Dauth, Wolfgang & Haller, Peter, 2020. "Is there loss aversion in the trade-off between wages and commuting distances?," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    6. Jennifer Roberts & Karl Taylor, 2017. "Intra-household commuting choices and local labour markets," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 69(3), pages 734-757.
    7. Gautier, Pieter A. & Zenou, Yves, 2010. "Car ownership and the labor market of ethnic minorities," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(3), pages 392-403, May.
    8. Mette Deding & Trine Filges & Jos Van Ommeren, 2009. "Spatial Mobility And Commuting: The Case Of Two‐Earner Households," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(1), pages 113-147, February.
    9. Gutiérrez-i-Puigarnau, Eva & van Ommeren, Jos N., 2010. "Labour supply and commuting," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 82-89, July.
    10. Eva Gutiérrez-i-Puigarnau & Ismir Mulalic & Jos N. van Ommeren, 2016. "Do rich households live farther away from their workplaces?," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 16(1), pages 177-201.
    11. Eva Gutierrez-i-Puigarnau & Jos van Ommeren, 2009. "Labour Supply and Commuting: Implications for Optimal Road Taxes," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 09-008/3, Tinbergen Institute.
    12. Dauth, Wolfgang & Haller, Peter, 2016. "The valuation of changes in commuting distances: an analysis using georeferenced data," IAB-Discussion Paper 201643, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    13. Rosa Sanchis-Guarner, 2012. "Driving Up Wages: The Effects of Road Construction in Great Britain," SERC Discussion Papers 0120, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    14. repec:dgr:uvatin:20090008 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Dauth, Wolfgang & Haller, Peter, 2019. "Loss aversion in the trade-off between wages and commuting distances," VfS Annual Conference 2019 (Leipzig): 30 Years after the Fall of the Berlin Wall - Democracy and Market Economy 203611, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    16. Peter Bäckström & Erika Sandow & Olle Westerlund, 2016. "Commuting and timing of retirement," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 56(1), pages 125-152, January.
    17. Ana Maria Bonomi Barufi & Eduardo A. Haddad, Peter Nijkamp, 2016. "New evidence on the wage curve: non-linearities, urban size, and spatial scale in Brazil," Working Papers, Department of Economics 2016_39, University of São Paulo (FEA-USP).
    18. Ortuño-Padilla, Armando & Fernández-Aracil, Patricia, 2013. "Impact of fuel price on the development of the urban sprawl in Spain," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 180-187.
    19. repec:eur:ejesjr:364 is not listed on IDEAS
    20. Duranton, Gilles & Puga, Diego, 2014. "The Growth of Cities," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 5, pages 781-853, Elsevier.
    21. Chunil Kim & Choongik Choi, 2019. "Towards Sustainable Urban Spatial Structure: Does Decentralization Reduce Commuting Times?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-28, February.
    22. Jordy Meekes & Wolter H. J. Hassink, 2023. "Endogenous local labour markets, regional aggregation and agglomeration economies," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 57(1), pages 13-25, January.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Commuting; regional labour markets; wages;
    All these keywords.

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa14p1320. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Gunther Maier (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.ersa.org .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.