Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/86602 
Year of Publication: 
2004
Series/Report no.: 
Tinbergen Institute Discussion Paper No. 04-097/3
Publisher: 
Tinbergen Institute, Amsterdam and Rotterdam
Abstract: 
In this paper we determine the effect of transport cost on commuting flows, on the basis of an analysis of home-to-work journeys between municipalities in Denmark. Special attention is given to a proper estimation method and the form of the distance-decay function. It appears that neither an exponential nor a power distance-decay function fits the data well. The specification of log trips as a (downwards) logistic function of log cost results in a better fit. We find that the cost elasticity of commuting reaches a value of –4 for distances around 24 km, while it is close to 0 for both very short and very long distances. Finally, we demonstrate that the choice of functional form for distance-decay can make an important difference for predictions concerning the effect of infrastructure improvements on commuting flows.
Subjects: 
Spatial Interaction
Distance-decay Function
Commuting
Denmark
Estimation
Heteroscedasticity
JEL: 
C21
J61
R15
R23
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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