Elie Vidal-Naquet

(AMSE)

will give a presentation on

Commuting costs and spatial job search

Abstract:

Among a series of environmental measures taken in 2008, the French government implemented in 2009 the half-reimbursement by the employer of the public transport costs. This paper aims to estimate the effect of a decrease in commuting costs on job search behavior, using an administrative database with information on employment and unemployment spell. I use a differences-in-differences strategy exploiting variation in the use of public transport at the communal level. I find that a 10\% increase in the treatment intensity increases the commuting distance by 3.2\% and the hourly wage by 0.5\%. The effect is stronger for women and low-paid workers. Finally, a sketch of modeling based on Manning and Petrongolo (2017) is introduced. In this framework, lower transport costs improve the accessibility of jobs but can create congestion effects. The structural estimation of the model will allow quantifying the different mechanisms and performing counterfactual exercises.