Template-Type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0 Series: Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers Creation-Date: 2010-09-10 Number: 10-093/3 Author-Name: Ismir Mulalic Author-Workplace-Name: Technical University of Denmark, and University of Copenhagen, Denmark Author-Name: Jos N. van Ommeren Author-Workplace-Name: VU University Amsterdam, the Netherlands Author-Name: Ninette Pilegaard Author-Workplace-Name: Technical University of Denmark Title: Wages and Commuting: Quasi-Natural Experiments' Evidence from Firms that relocate Abstract: This discussion paper resulted in a publication in the 'Economic Journal', 2014, 124(579), 1086-1105.

We examine the causal effect of commuting distance on workers' wages in a quasi-natural experiments setting using information on all workers in Denmark. We account for endogeneity of distance by using changes in distance that are due to firms' relocations. For the range of commuting distances where income tax reductions associated with commuting do not apply, one kilometre increase in commuting distance induces a wage increase of about 0.42%, suggesting an hourly compensation of about half of the hourly net wage. Our findings are consistent with wage bargaining theory and suggest a bargaining power parameter of about 0.50. Due to the experimental setup we are able to exclude many competing explanations of the wage-distance relationship. Classification-JEL: J22, R41 Keywords: Bargaining theory, Wages, Commuting File-Url: https://papers.tinbergen.nl/10093.pdf File-Format: application/pdf File-Size: 245601 bytes Handle: RePEc:tin:wpaper:20100093