The Economics of Spatial Mobility: Theory and Evidence Using Smartphone Data

Yuhei Miyauchi, Kentaro Nakajima and Stephen Redding
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Yuhei Miyauchi: Boston University

Working Papers from Princeton University, Department of Economics, Center for Economic Policy Studies.

Abstract: Using smartphone geographical positioning systems (GPS) data for Japan, we show that travel within urban areas frequently occurs along trip chains, involving multiple stops as part of a single journey. Motivated by these empirical findings, we develop a tractable theoretical model of travel itineraries, in which agents choose a set and sequence of locations to visit each day. To overcome the resulting high-dimensionality of the choice set, we develop an approach based on importance sampling. We show that trip chains introduce consumption externalities across locations. We show that these consumption externalities are central to explaining the collapse in foot traffic in downtown areas following the shift to remote working during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Keywords: Spatial Mobility; Cities; Economic Geography (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O18 R12 R40 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-geo, nep-tre and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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Working Paper: The Economics of Spatial Mobility: Theory and Evidence Using Smartphone Data (2021)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pri:cepsud:295

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