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The aim of this paper is to assess the implications of economic uncertainty on individual mobility behaviour at the local and regional levels. Focusing especially on uncertainty with respect to the evolution of commuting costs, a model is developed that describes the interrelated decisions of residential choice and the appropriate type of mobility connecting workplace and residence. Results indicate that higher uncertainty about commuting costs increases the number of residentially immobile individuals in that the decision regarding a relocation of residence is accordingly deferred to a later point in time. This also means that individuals initially commuting between residence and workplace remain in this mobility mode despite an apparently favourable net present value of moving to the workplace region.

The purpose of this paper is to show that the failure to perceive the full burden of commuting costs can bias the residential location decision in favor of distant locations. Initially, the argument is developed. Then, Federal Housing Administration data on the site expenditures of families purchasing single-family dwellings in the United States are used as a basis for an empirical investigation, the results of which are shown to be consistent with the argument.

BackgroundBetter estimates of workers' willingness to pay to reduce commutes can help evaluate transport policy as well as innovations in workplace organisation implemented by firms (such as telecommuting). These measures could facilitate the employment of workers with care responsibilities by reducing commuting cost.
ObjectivesWe estimate female workers' marginal willingness to pay to reduce commuting distance in Germany in a partial-equilibrium model of job search with non-wage job attributes. We consider heterogeneity by parenthood, regional structure and part-time status of workers and are moreover able to explore the role of housing cost, childcare and intra-household interactions for subsamples of the data.
Methods and DataWe use national insurance data based on a 10\% sample of the German labour force including daily information on job spells, personal and job characteristics and residential and workplace post codes between 2000 and 2013 (a customised version of the ``Integrated Employment Biographies'' provided by the Institute of Employment Research, IAB). Taking advantage of the longitudinal structure of the data, our analysis uses a stratified Cox model to take better account of unobserved individual heterogeneity than the previous literature has been able to do. We control for housing costs using additional data on rents at the county level.
FindingsWe find a substantial gender gap in marginal willingness to pay for reduced commuting distance between men and women which is not explained by individual unobserved heterogeneity. When women have their first child, their willingness to pay increases further. Preliminary results suggest that heterogeneity between urban, conurbational and rural areas in Germany plays a minor role in determining women's willingness to pay.
ConclusionsSubstantial gender and motherhood gaps in implicit commuting cost provide an important link between the household and labour market in understanding gender and job choice, with implications for gender-sensitive labour market policy.

In this paper I describe the monetary and time costs of commuting to work in South Africa. I find that these costs are high and that monetary costs of commuting have increased faster than inflation, mainly through a shift away from walking and towards minibus taxis and driving. Journey times are substantially higher than the OECD country average. Using a method suggested by Hausmann (2013) I estimate the effective tax on hourly earnings that the time and monetary costs of commuting impose. I find high effective tax rates, which are a disincentive to working far from home. This only deepens the puzzle of why South Africa's informal sector is so small, since more than half of the informally self-employed work at home and pay no transport costs. I show that whilst minibus taxis conveyed around 71% of commuters that used public transport in 2013, the industry receives less than 1% of the direct public transport subsidy provided by the South African government. I find that the subsidy accrues mainly to bus and train users in the lower middle part of the labour income distribution. ; Andrew Kerr, Senior Research Officer, DataFirst, University of Cape Town I acknowledge funding from an incentive grant from REDI3x3. The paper has benefitted from the comments of participants at SALDRU and CSSR (University of Cape Town) and RESEP (Stellenbosch University) seminars. This paper was also published as REDI3x3 Working paper 12. In the interests of transparency: I am the co-owner of a website that assists commuters to use minibus taxis in Cape Town and Durban, see: www.taximap.co.za.