Concentration Versus Re-Matching? Evidence About the Locational Effects of Commuting Costs

Michael J. Boehm

CEP Discussion Papers from Centre for Economic Performance, LSE

Abstract: Using administrative employer-employee data from Germany, I exploit two reductions of tax breaks for commuting in 2003/4 and 2006/7 to estimate commuting costs' effect on the decision to switch job and move house. Standard theory predicts that higher commuting costs should lead to increased concentration in urban centers. However, I find that re-matching of existing jobs and houses to reduce commuting distances is much more prevalent in the data. With these estimates I calculate the effect of a complete abolition of the tax breaks on overall travel distance, fuel usage, greenhouse gas emissions, the tax base, and the de-population of the countryside.

Keywords: Work/residence location choice; commuting costs; environmental effects of tax policy; employer-employee data (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J61 J68 Q48 Q58 R00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-acc, nep-eur, nep-lab and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp1207

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