Stress that Doesn't Pay: The Commuting Paradox

Abstract

People spend more and more time commuting and often find it a burden.nAccording to economics, the burden of commuting is chosen when compensated eithernon the labor or on the housing market so that individuals' utility is equalized. However, inna direct test of this strong notion of equilibrium, we find that people with longerncommuting time report systematically lower subjective well-being. Additional empiricalnanalyses rule out institutional explanations of the empirical finding that commutersnsystematically incur losses. We discuss several possibilities of an extended model ofnhuman behavior able to explain this 'commuting paradox'.