IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/transa/v80y2015icp62-75.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Commute duration and health: Empirical evidence from Brazil

Author

Listed:
  • Oliveira, Rodrigo
  • Moura, Klebson
  • Viana, Jorge
  • Tigre, Robson
  • Sampaio, Breno

Abstract

There have been many empirical studies associating commuting time and health outcomes in the last few decades. Their general conclusion is that commuting and health are negatively related. The validity of their findings, however, is questionable, given their lack of good identification strategies to correctly account for omitted variables. In this paper, we analyze this relationship using a large and unique nationally representative sample of Brazilian individuals, coupled with the use of propensity score matching techniques, and the application of an exhaustive set of standard falsification tests and sensitivity analysis that may prevent one from claiming a causal link between the two variables. Our results indicate that individuals with more than one hour of commuting appear to have statistically higher probability, ranging from 1.9 to 4.6 percentage points, of reporting bad health status when compared to a person whose commuting time is less than one hour.

Suggested Citation

  • Oliveira, Rodrigo & Moura, Klebson & Viana, Jorge & Tigre, Robson & Sampaio, Breno, 2015. "Commute duration and health: Empirical evidence from Brazil," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 62-75.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:transa:v:80:y:2015:i:c:p:62-75
    DOI: 10.1016/j.tra.2015.07.020
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0965856415002128
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.tra.2015.07.020?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Joseph G. Altonji & Todd E. Elder & Christopher R. Taber, 2005. "Selection on Observed and Unobserved Variables: Assessing the Effectiveness of Catholic Schools," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 113(1), pages 151-184, February.
    2. Andrea Ichino & Fabrizia Mealli & Tommaso Nannicini, 2008. "From temporary help jobs to permanent employment: what can we learn from matching estimators and their sensitivity?," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 23(3), pages 305-327.
    3. Guildo W. Imbens, 2003. "Sensitivity to Exogeneity Assumptions in Program Evaluation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(2), pages 126-132, May.
    4. Joshua D. Angrist & Jörn-Steffen Pischke, 2009. "Mostly Harmless Econometrics: An Empiricist's Companion," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 8769.
    5. Georg Gottholmseder & Klaus Nowotny & Gerald J. Pruckner & Engelbert Theurl, 2009. "Stress perception and commuting," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 18(5), pages 559-576, May.
    6. A. Smith, Jeffrey & E. Todd, Petra, 2005. "Does matching overcome LaLonde's critique of nonexperimental estimators?," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 125(1-2), pages 305-353.
    7. White, Halbert, 1980. "A Heteroskedasticity-Consistent Covariance Matrix Estimator and a Direct Test for Heteroskedasticity," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 48(4), pages 817-838, May.
    8. Guido W. Imbens & Jeffrey M. Wooldridge, 2009. "Recent Developments in the Econometrics of Program Evaluation," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 47(1), pages 5-86, March.
    9. Mitch Renkow & Dale Hoover, 2000. "Commuting, Migration, and Rural‐Urban Population Dynamics," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(2), pages 261-287, May.
    10. Arthur Lewbel, 2012. "Using Heteroscedasticity to Identify and Estimate Mismeasured and Endogenous Regressor Models," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(1), pages 67-80.
    11. James J. Heckman & Hidehiko Ichimura & Petra E. Todd, 1997. "Matching As An Econometric Evaluation Estimator: Evidence from Evaluating a Job Training Programme," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 64(4), pages 605-654.
    12. Andreas Drichoutis & Rodolfo Nayga & Panagiotis Lazaridis, 2012. "Food away from home expenditures and obesity among older Europeans: are there gender differences?," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 42(3), pages 1051-1078, June.
    13. Rajeev H. Dehejia & Sadek Wahba, 2002. "Propensity Score-Matching Methods For Nonexperimental Causal Studies," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 84(1), pages 151-161, February.
    14. Richard Wener & Gary Evans & Donald Phillips & Natasha Nadler, 2003. "Running for the 7:45: The effects of public transit improvements on commuter stress," Transportation, Springer, vol. 30(2), pages 203-220, May.
    15. M. Shahe Emran & Zhaoyang Hou, 2013. "Access to Markets and Rural Poverty: Evidence from Household Consumption in China," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 95(2), pages 682-697, May.
    16. Heckman, James J. & Robb, Richard Jr., 1985. "Alternative methods for evaluating the impact of interventions : An overview," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 30(1-2), pages 239-267.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ellison, Richard B. & Ellison, Adrian B. & Greaves, Stephen P. & Sampaio, Breno, 2017. "Electronic ticketing systems as a mechanism for travel behaviour change? Evidence from Sydney’s Opal card," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 80-93.
    2. Chloé Duvivier & Emma Cazou & Stéphanie Truchet‐Aznar & Cédric Brunelle & Jean Dubé, 2021. "When, where, and for what industries does broadband foster establishment births?," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 100(6), pages 1377-1401, December.
    3. Castillo-Manzano, José I. & López-Valpuesta, Lourdes & Sánchez-Braza, Antonio, 2018. "When the mall is in the airport: Measuring the effect of the airport mall on passengers’ consumer behavior," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 32-38.
    4. Mingming Cai & Yaolin Liu & Minghai Luo & Lijun Xing & Yanfang Liu, 2019. "Job Accessibility from a Multiple Commuting Circles Perspective Using Baidu Location Data: A Case Study of Wuhan, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(23), pages 1-18, November.
    5. Liu, Jixiang & Xiao, Longzhu, 2023. "Non-linear relationships between built environment and commuting duration of migrants and locals," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 106(C).
    6. Yu Chen & Mahdi Aghaabbasi & Mujahid Ali & Sergey Anciferov & Linar Sabitov & Sergey Chebotarev & Karina Nabiullina & Evgeny Sychev & Roman Fediuk & Rosilawati Zainol, 2021. "Hybrid Bayesian Network Models to Investigate the Impact of Built Environment Experience before Adulthood on Students’ Tolerable Travel Time to Campus: Towards Sustainable Commute Behavior," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(1), pages 1-26, December.
    7. He, Mingwei & Zhao, Shengchuan & He, Min, 2016. "Tolerance threshold of commuting time: Evidence from Kunming, China," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 1-7.
    8. Suchi Kapoor Malhotra & Howard White & Nina Ashley O. Dela Cruz & Ashrita Saran & John Eyers & Denny John & Ella Beveridge & Nina Blöndal, 2021. "Studies of the effectiveness of transport sector interventions in low‐ and middle‐income countries: An evidence and gap map," Campbell Systematic Reviews, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 17(4), December.
    9. Aurelio Hess & Sampson Banflo Narteh-Yoe, 2020. "Productivity, Sustainability, and Economic Growth in Metropolises: Estimates of Long-Time Commuting Effects in Developing Countries," Proceedings of the 16th International RAIS Conference, March 30-31, 2020 004ah, Research Association for Interdisciplinary Studies.
    10. Gideon DPA Aschwanden & Jasper S Wijnands & Jason Thompson & Kerry A Nice & Haifeng Zhao & Mark Stevenson, 2021. "Learning to walk: Modeling transportation mode choice distribution through neural networks," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 48(1), pages 186-199, January.
    11. Jin, Eunae & Kim, Danya & Jin, Jangik, 2022. "Commuting time and perceived stress: Evidence from the intra- and inter-city commuting of young workers in Korea," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Tommaso Nannicini, 2007. "Simulation-based sensitivity analysis for matching estimators," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 7(3), pages 334-350, September.
    2. Caliendo, Marco & Mahlstedt, Robert & Mitnik, Oscar A., 2017. "Unobservable, but unimportant? The relevance of usually unobserved variables for the evaluation of labor market policies," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 14-25.
    3. Andrea Ichino & Fabrizia Mealli & Tommaso Nannicini, 2008. "From temporary help jobs to permanent employment: what can we learn from matching estimators and their sensitivity?," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 23(3), pages 305-327.
    4. Jeffrey Smith & Arthur Sweetman, 2016. "Viewpoint: Estimating the causal effects of policies and programs," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 49(3), pages 871-905, August.
    5. repec:zbw:rwirep:0426 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Hendrik Schmitz & Matthias Westphal, 2013. "Short- and Medium-term Effects of Informal Care Provision on Health," Ruhr Economic Papers 0426, Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universität Dortmund, Universität Duisburg-Essen.
    7. Froehlich, Anderson G. & Melo, Andrea S.S.A. & Sampaio, Breno, 2018. "Comparing the Profitability of Organic and Conventional Production in Family Farming: Empirical Evidence From Brazil," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 307-314.
    8. Ellison, Richard B. & Ellison, Adrian B. & Greaves, Stephen P. & Sampaio, Breno, 2017. "Electronic ticketing systems as a mechanism for travel behaviour change? Evidence from Sydney’s Opal card," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 80-93.
    9. Dettmann, E. & Becker, C. & Schmeißer, C., 2011. "Distance functions for matching in small samples," Computational Statistics & Data Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 55(5), pages 1942-1960, May.
    10. Sant’Anna, Pedro H.C. & Zhao, Jun, 2020. "Doubly robust difference-in-differences estimators," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 219(1), pages 101-122.
    11. Candon, David, 2018. "The effect of cancer on the labor supply of employed men over the age of 65," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 184-199.
    12. Marco Caliendo & Sabine Kopeinig, 2008. "Some Practical Guidance For The Implementation Of Propensity Score Matching," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(1), pages 31-72, February.
    13. Amorim, Guilherme & Lima, Rafael Costa & Sampaio, Breno, 2022. "Broadband internet and protests: Evidence from the Occupy movement," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    14. Gustavo Canavire-Bacarreza & Luis Castro Peñarrieta & Darwin Ugarte Ontiveros, 2021. "Outliers in Semi-Parametric Estimation of Treatment Effects," Econometrics, MDPI, vol. 9(2), pages 1-32, April.
    15. Chang, Pao-Li & Lee, Myoung-Jae, 2011. "The WTO trade effect," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(1), pages 53-71, September.
    16. Schmitz, H. & Westphal, M., 2013. "Short- and medium-term effects of informal care provision on health," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 13/23, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York.
    17. Xudong Rao & Yuehua Zhang, 2020. "Livestock insurance, moral hazard, and farmers’ decisions: a field experiment among hog farms in China," The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance - Issues and Practice, Palgrave Macmillan;The Geneva Association, vol. 45(1), pages 134-156, January.
    18. Riccardo Turati, 2020. "Network-based Connectedness and the Diffusion of Cultural Traits," LIDAM Discussion Papers IRES 2020012, Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES).
    19. Erhardt, Eva Christine, 2017. "Microfinance beyond self-employment: Evidence for firms in Bulgaria," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 75-95.
    20. Juan Díaz & Miguel Jaramillo, 2006. "An Evaluation of the Peruvian "Youth Labor Training Program"-PROJOVEN," OVE Working Papers 1006, Inter-American Development Bank, Office of Evaluation and Oversight (OVE).
    21. Mano, Yukichi & Akoten, John & Yoshino, Yutaka & Sonobe, Tetsushi, 2014. "Teaching KAIZEN to small business owners: An experiment in a metalworking cluster in Nairobi," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 25-42.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:transa:v:80:y:2015:i:c:p:62-75. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/547/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.