Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/124956 
Year of Publication: 
2015
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 9425
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
In this paper, we propose a new spatial framework to model excess commuting of workers and we show empirical differences between the self-employed and employees in the US. In a theoretical framework where self-employed workers minimize their commuting time, employees do not minimize their commuting time because they lack full information, and thus the difference between the time devoted to commuting by self-employed workers and employees is modeled as wasteful commuting (i.e., excess commuting). We first formulate a microeconomic framework for commuting by modeling the location of individuals in urban cores surrounded by rings. Using the American Time Use Survey for the years 2003-2013, our empirical results show that employees spend twelve more minutes per day, or forty percent of the average commuting time, compared to their self-employed counterparts. This is consistent with our "diana" model, in that location is an important factor.
Subjects: 
excess commuting
urban cores
American Time Use Survey
self-employed workers
employees
JEL: 
R20
R41
J64
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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