Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/121327 
Year of Publication: 
2015
Series/Report no.: 
Hohenheim Discussion Papers in Business, Economics and Social Sciences No. 09-2015
Publisher: 
Universität Hohenheim, Fakultät Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften, Stuttgart
Abstract: 
Using data from the 2010 China Family Panel Studies, this study investigates the association between commute time and subjective well-being in a sample of 16- to 65-year-old employees in urban China. We find evidence that a longer commute time is associated with lower levels of both life satisfaction and happiness, especially when the commute times are extreme (≥ 1 hour per day). A multiple mediation analysis further indicates that the relation between commute time and happiness is partially mediated by time spent on daily activities, particularly sleeping. We calculate the amount of income necessary to compensate an employee's loss in well-being at approximately 82 yuan per hour of commute time, implying that, in urban China, the annual loss of well-being amounts to around 10 billion yuan.
Subjects: 
commute time
life satisfaction
happiness
urban China
JEL: 
I31
J30
J33
R41
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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