COMPENSATION FOR COMMUTES IN THE LAND AND LABOR MARKETS: SOME EVIDENCE FROM THE TOKYO METROPOLITAN AREA*

ABSTRACT. Recent research suggests that in nonmonocentric cities compensation for commutes takes the form of both lower housing prices and higher wages. This paper develops a random utility model that predicts the probability of an actor choosing to commute between each residence and job in a metropolitan area conditional on the observed location of housing units and job sites. The model allows commuting time, origin-specific amenities, land prices, destination-specific amenities and wages to influence actors' choices. We estimate the model using maximum likelihood and generalized least squares techniques and data on commuting between each of 38 origin and 15 destination jurisdictions in the Tokyo metropolitan area. The empirical results show that, all else equal, a one percent increase in commuting time reduces the probability that a route (origin-destination combination) will be chosen by almost five percent. Origin-specific amenities are not completely capitalized into land prices and destination-specific amenities are not completely capitalized into wages. Desirable residential amenities include school quality and a low ratio of day to night population. Desirable workplace amenities include a large share of white collar jobs and a high density of employment.     

DEFINITION OF THE BOUNDARY OF MOSCOW'S ACTIVE ZONE OF INFLUENCE

The present boundaries of Moscow's suburban zone are tested by delineating a so-called zone of active influence of Moscow city based on demographic structure and the significance of commuting to work in the city. The most favorable age-sex structure, with a high percentage of population in the working age groups and a relatively high percentage of children, is found in a zone within 50 to 60 kilometers from the city limits. This zone generates a daily flow of more than 500,000 commuters to places of employment in Moscow, 90 percent of whom spend less than 110 to 120 minutes traveling each way. These commuters represent about 2 percent of the total working-age population in the suburban zone. On the basis of the demographic structure and commuting linkages, Moscow's zone of active influence is therefore defined as the zone within which 90 percent of the commuters reside, or within 52 kilometers of the city limits. This conforms roughly to the present definition of the suburban zone.     

THE ZHELEZNOGORSK MINING NODE AS PART OF THE INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX OF THE KURSK MAGNETIC ANOMALY

The structural-spatial characteristics of the Kursk Magnetic Anomaly, the iron-mining district of Central Russia, are discussed in terms of stages of development, environmental impacts and the technological cycles (energy and production cycles) making up the industrial complex. The structure and problems of development of the Zheleznogorsk industrial node, one of the mining centers, are analyzed in particular detail. (Previous articles by the author on the KMA mining industry appeared in Soviet Geography, April 1975, December 1976, May 1979, and other contributions are included in the present issue.)     

COMMUTER MOVEMENT IN BELORUSSIA

A Belorussian Gosplan study of Minsk shows 26,044 commuters (1970 data from the Soviet census), of which 92 percent came from rural areas. Statistics on location of commuter residence, mode of transportation and time consumed show the importance of rail, up to 90 percent from satellite cities, and travel mainly within 41–90 minute isochrones, but extending to more than 120 minutes. Data for cities of the Poles'ye region of Belorussia shows a higher level of commuting, 65–80 percent occurring by road, with rail fulfilling a limited function. Details of socio-economic and demographic characteristics of commuter from 11 Belorussian industrial plants outline the general pattern of young, unskilled or semi-skilled sections of the population forming the bulk of in-commuters. The conclusion is that rural-urban migration in Belorussia in the last 15 years has to a large extent replaced a more developed pattern of commuter movement.     

大连市民通勤特征研究

以大连市民日常生活行为调查的结果为基础,根据就业人口及就业岗位的分布信息等进行通勤工具、通勤时间、通勤距离等通勤基本特征的分析,并着重从通勤发生的角度,研究通勤现象的距离衰减规律及其空间结构模式。     

中国西部平原型大城市居民通勤特征研究——以西安市为例

为解决早晚高峰交通拥堵问题,有必要研究居民通勤特征,为城市规划、管理提供参考。本文以西安为实证研究对象,采用空间分层随机抽样法发放问卷进行调查研究,并将研究结果与东部类似城市北京进行对比。研究发现西安居民通勤以公共交通为主,但地面交通中私家车高于公交车;通勤时间反映职住分离程度低于东部;以内部通勤和内向通勤为主,同时,运用引力模型对通勤流与城市空间结构的关系进行计算,发现通勤流反映城市空间结构为单中心,在分析通勤特征背后原因的基础上,从城市规划的角度提出相应的治堵建议。     

Book Review

In the absence of Soviet statistics on commuting it is estimated that, as of the late 1960's, at least 10 million people commuted to work or study in the Soviet Union, or about 12 percent of the number of public-sector workers and students. Sample surveys have shown that commuting is found not only in the suburban zones of large cities, but also around small towns, and that it involves as many as 3 million residents of rural areas who travel to work in urban places. The maximum commuting radius in the Soviet Union appears to be about 50 km, with the number of commuters dropping off sharply beyond that limit. In terms of social composition, commuters tend to be mainly young men of relatively low skills. An assessment of commuting, from the Soviet point of view, lists both positive features, such as the fuller use of labor resources around a large urban center, and negative features, such as the unproductive loss of time involved in commuting over long distances.     

WHY ARE URBAN TRAVEL TIMES SO STABLE?

Personal travel time in U.S. urban areas has been stable, clashing with the assertion that urban sprawl greatly lengthens travel. Average commute time rises by 7.7 percent with each cross‐sectional doubling of Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) jobs. Using the RELU‐TRAN structural computable general equilibrium model of the Chicago MSA, we simulate the equilibrium effects of a 24 percent population increase projected from 2000 to 2030 by the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning. If no new road capacity is added, then congestion per mile increases. Although the urbanized land area increases by 19 percent, indicating sprawl, the vehicle miles traveled (VMT) per car‐trip decreases by 1.31 percent and the VMT per car‐trip to work decreases by 2.78 percent. Car travel time increases by only 6.25 percent and commuting time by only 4.54 percent, from 30.3 minutes in 2000 to 31.7 in 2030 or 3.4 seconds per year. We further explore the effects of new road capacity, gasoline prices, public transit speed, fuel economy gains, limits on suburban construction, and importantly, the cross‐elasticity of public transit use with respect to car times. The availability of public transportation, economizing on nonwork travel, and land use adjustments that increase job‐residence proximity keep times stable.     

基于健康视角的城市就业者通勤模式选择及影响因素研究——以南京市为例

中国城市出现的居住和就业"空间不匹配"现象,对就业者日常通勤时间和方式产生了重要影响,进而影响就业者健康状况。依托南京市居民身体活动和健康状况问卷调查数据,根据不同通勤方式身体活动量的大小将就业者的通勤模式分为积极通勤、公共交通通勤和机动车通勤三种,构建多项Logistic回归模型探究城市就业者通勤模式的选择及相关影响因素。结果表明:(1)就业者对自身健康的主观认知和客观身体健康状况以及是否散步等健康行为显著影响通勤模式的选择;(2)通勤时间、加班等与工作相关的变量与就业者机动车通勤显著正相关,雨雪天气与积极通勤显著负相关;(3)个体社会经济属性中性别、年龄、家庭人口规模以及是否拥有小汽车等显著影响通勤模式选择。基于研究结果,本文对如何引导就业者选择更加积极和可持续的通勤模式提出了政策建议。     

海口城市建成环境对高峰期网约车通勤出行的影响——基于滴滴出行数据

网约车的普及重塑了居民的通勤行为。城市建成环境作为居民通勤出行的制约因素,是交通地理学的重要研究议题。采用海口市滴滴出行订单数据,刻画格网尺度的居民通勤时间与通勤距离的空间分异格局,并运用地理探测器分析城市建成环境对居民通勤出行的影响。结果表明：(1)早晚高峰通勤时间在空间上表现为中间集聚、四周分散的分布特征;早晚高峰通勤距离呈现梯度递增的圈层结构。(2)不同维度的建成环境因素对通勤时间和通勤距离的影响程度不一;其中距公交站距离、距市中心距离、职住比、道路邻近度是核心影响因素;人口密度、就业可达性、路网密度产生较为显著的影响。(3)从影响效应看,交通区位优越、职住趋于平衡、道路邻近度高、就业可达性好能引导网约车与多元交通协同发展。结果可为改善交通出行环境、优化居民通勤结构提供借鉴。     

通勤时间的幸福绩效——基于中国家庭追踪调查的实证研究

幸福不仅是个人的心愿,也是城市管理者的执政目标之一,因此,对于城市中普遍存在的通勤时间过长所带来的心理影响研究十分必要。本文采用中国家庭追踪调查(CFPS)数据,考察了通勤时间对于个人主观幸福感的影响。实证结果显示,通勤时间对于个人幸福感存在显著的负向影响,随着个人通勤时间的增加,个人幸福感也随之降低。通勤时间与生活满意度也同样呈现显著的负相关,这也证明了结论的稳健性。通过进一步考察通勤时间负面影响的异质性发现,通勤时间对幸福感的影响在不同社会群体间存在差异,对于个人收入高、教育程度高、家庭收入高的居民而言,通勤时间所造成的负面心理影响更大。因此,政府应重视通勤对居民幸福感的影响,并致力于提高交通效率。     

THE DETERMINANTS OF 1963–77 REGIONAL MANUFACTURING GROWTH: WHY THE SOUTH AND WEST GROW*

ABSTRACT. This paper analyzes 1963–77 manufacturing employment growth in the 48 contiguous states. Six factors jointly explain 96 percent of the variance. Markets explains 55 percent; climate, 15 percent; a rural state attraction, 11 percent; unionization, 6 percent; thresholds, 5 percent; and amenities, 4 percent. Resources, taxes, and business climate lack significance. Sunbelt-Frostbelt is a false dichotomy: the Northwest grew as fast as the South. The real contrast–largely caused by markets–is between growth rates of 6 percent in the Manufacturing Belt, 35 percent in its bordering Transition Zone, and 58 percent in the combined South and West.     

西部大城市居民通勤特征及其与城市空间结构的关系研究——以成都市为例

以成都市为实证研究对象,在大规模问卷调查的基础上,对西部大城市居民通勤基本特征进行了研究。分析发现,西部大城市居民通勤方式以公共交通为主,选择私家车作为通勤工具的比例较高;大部分居民的通勤时间在30分钟以内,通勤距离小于5km。和北京、广州等东部大城市相比,西部大城市职住分离现象还不是非常严重;不同属性居民的通勤时间存在差异,西方空间错位假说反映的城市社会空间不平等现象在中国西部大城市同样存在并逐步显化;通勤空间组织特征与城市结构以及城市功能分区存在密切的关系;西部大城市的快速发展对居民日常通勤影响较大。     

TRANSPORT-RELATED FRINGE BENEFITS: IMPLICATIONS FOR MOVING AND THE JOURNEY TO WORK

ABSTRACT.  Firms offer compensation not only through wages, but also offer transport-related fringe benefits such as transport benefits (company cars, travel, and parking benefits) and relocation benefits to job applicants. We argue that these benefits are not randomly offered to employees, but depend on the job applicants' commuting costs. The firms' choice between these benefits affects the workers' incentive to move their residence closer to the workplace. Using information on firms' recruitment behavior in the United Kingdom, this paper shows empirically that the applicants' journey-to-work time induces firms to offer these benefits to job applicants. The implications of transport-related fringe benefits for commuting and relocation are found to be rather distinct. Transport benefits make employees less sensitive to the costs of commuting, whereas relocation benefits induce employees to move closer to the workplace.     

IMMIGRATION AND HOUSING BOOMS: EVIDENCE FROM SPAIN*

ABSTRACT We provide causal estimates of the effect of immigration on house prices and construction activity in Spain over the period 2000–2010. During this period Spain experienced spectacular swings in both immigration and the housing market. Our instrumental‐variables estimates suggest that between 2000 and 2010, immigration led to an average 1.5 percent annual increase in the working‐age population. This was responsible for an annual increase in housing prices of about 2 percent, and for a 1.2–1.5 percent increase in housing units. Overall, immigration was responsible for one quarter of the increase in prices and about half of the construction activity over the decade.     

THE FORMATION OF THE INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX OF THE KURSK MAGNETIC ANOMALY

The industrial complex in the area of the vast iron-ore bearing province known as the Kursk Magnetic Anomaly (Central Russia) has been shaped in the past by an advantageous economic-geographic situation in the heart of the European USSR, by the availability of labor resources and by the presence of a wide range of agricultural raw materials for industry (sugar beets, sunflower, hemp). Further development will hinge on the massive use of mineral resources, both iron ore for the iron and steel industry, and cement materials in the overburden of open-pit iron mines. In 1975 the KMA will supply one-sixth of all the iron ore mined in the Soviet Union. About 60 percent of the ore (direct-shipping ore and concentrates derived from low grade-quartzites) moves to nearby plants at Lipetsk and Tula, and 25 percent moves to the Urals. If plans for a 12-million-ton integrated iron and steel plant for the Comecon countries materialize, 40 percent of the ore will be consumed locally, still leaving 60 percent for shipment to other steel plants. See also Soviet Geography, November 1974, pp. 593–94.     

SOME DATA ON CHANGES IN TRANSPORT ACCESSIBILITY OF EAST SIBERIA AND THE SOVIET FAR EAST IN CONNECTION WITH CONSTRUCTION OF THE BAM

The impact of the Baikal-Amur Mainline on accessibility to resource sites in East Siberia and the Soviet Far East is measured. At the present time, a little more than one-half of the developed southern portion of the region lies within 200 km of the Trans-Siberian. As a result of the construction of the BAM, nearly 75 percent of the area will be within 200 km of the nearest railroad. The gains in distance to the nearest railroad are mapped, and show a maximum gain (of 420–450 km) in an area northeast of the northern tip of Lake Baikal. Although the BAM, because of difficult terrain, is still distinguished by a high coefficient of sinuosity (compared with the great-circle distance), it does represent a gain over the present distance from the Pacific coast to points west of Lake Baikal.     

北京市居民通勤特征研究——基于千余份问卷调查的分析

在千余份问卷调查的基础上,对北京市4个不同居住-就业空间结构样本区进行了不同交通方式、不同样本区居民的通勤距离、时间、效率等特征比较。结果表明:公共交通是北京市居民通勤的主要方式;随着通勤距离的增加,居民最常选择的交通方式从非机动车向公交再向地铁转变;北京市居民通勤时间相比于其他国际大都市偏长;私家车通勤效率最高;换乘对交通效率有较大负影响,在大型居住-就业中心通勤流中这一问题尤为严重;职住平衡的区域较之于居住或就业中心有着相对短的通勤距离和时间,以及相对高的非机动车出行比例。     

THE IMPACT OF COMMUTING TIME ON YOUTH'S SCHOOL PERFORMANCE

Using Brazilian data, we estimate the impact of commuting duration on students' performance using distance to closest schools as an instrumental variable. In addition, we also use identification through heteroskedasticity, which does not rely on exclusion restrictions, and estimate bounds for the treatment effect in case there is remaining bias from unobservables. We find strong and consistent evidence that duration of commuting has a negative causal effect on academic achievement. Moreover, the relatively small heterogeneity across quantiles of test score makes us believe that public transportation policies targeted at students can promote education not only for those less well‐off.     

SPATIAL MOBILITY AND COMMUTING: THE CASE OF TWO‐EARNER HOUSEHOLDS*

ABSTRACT We examine the effects of the spatial configuration of workers' residence and workplace location on intraregional residential and job moving decisions of workers belonging to two‐earner households. We hypothesize that two‐earner households' residential mobility depends positively on the commuting distance of both spouses, but negatively on the distance between workplaces. Further, we hypothesize that workers' job mobility depends positively on the worker's commuting distance, negatively on the spouse's commuting distance, and positively on the distance between workplaces. Using data for Denmark, it appears that these hypotheses hold, and that the effects of the spatial configuration are rather large.