RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Home Location Choices and the Gender Commute Gap
JF Journal of Human Resources
JO J Hum Resour
FD University of Wisconsin Press
SP 1020-11263R2
DO 10.3368/jhr.1020-11263R2
A1 Gu, Yizhen
A1 Guo, Naijia
A1 Wu, Jing
A1 Zou, Ben
YR 2021
UL http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/early/2021/11/03/jhr.1020-11263R2.abstract
AB Using administrative records of home mortgages in Beijing, we show that dual-income households systematically choose to buy homes that are closer to the wife’s workplace. The wife’s commute from the newly purchased home is on average 11% shorter by distance than the husband’s. We estimate a discrete home location choice model and find that households derive substantially larger disutility from the wife’s commute than from the husband’s. Through the lens of a simple collective household model, we show evidence that gender commute gap reflects the intra-household division of labor and relative bargaining power.