IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/applec/v49y2017i20p2011-2026.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Cross-border commuting and consuming: an empirical investigation

Author

Listed:
  • Thomas Y. Mathä
  • Alessandro Porpiglia
  • Michael Ziegelmeyer

Abstract

This article contributes to our understanding of cross-border activity in general and the determinants of cross-border trade in particular by focusing on the part of cross-border sales that arise due to work-related cross-border crossings of households. We analyse empirically how cross-border consumption expenditures vary across product and services categories as well as household characteristics using representative household survey data of cross-border commuters to Luxembourg. In total, these households spend an estimated 17% of their gross annual income across the border, contributing about 10% to the total household final consumption expenditure (HFCE) in Luxembourg. Cross-border expenditure is linked to individual- and household-related characteristics and to distance between home and work. Cross-border commuters systematically exploit arbitrage opportunities that arise because of existing price level (index) differences between the country of work and the country of residence.

Suggested Citation

  • Thomas Y. Mathä & Alessandro Porpiglia & Michael Ziegelmeyer, 2017. "Cross-border commuting and consuming: an empirical investigation," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(20), pages 2011-2026, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:applec:v:49:y:2017:i:20:p:2011-2026
    DOI: 10.1080/00036846.2016.1231902
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/00036846.2016.1231902
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/00036846.2016.1231902?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 look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gavin Cameron & John Muellbauer, 1998. "The Housing Market and Regional Commuting and Migration Choices," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 45(4), pages 420-446, September.
    2. Sijbren Cnossen, 2006. "Tobacco taxation in the European Union," CPB Discussion Paper 67, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    3. Lovenheim, Michael F., 2008. "How Far to the Border?: The Extent and Impact of Cross-Border Casual Cigarette Smuggling," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 61(1), pages 7-33, March.
    4. Thomas Y. Mathä & Alessandro Porpiglia & Michael Ziegelmeyer, 2017. "Cross-border commuting and consuming: an empirical investigation," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(20), pages 2011-2026, April.
    5. Jordan Marvakov & Thomas Y. Mathä, 2007. "An analysis of regional commuting flows in the European Union," BCL working papers 28, Central Bank of Luxembourg.
    6. Cameron, Gavin & Muellbauer, John, 1998. "The Housing Market and Regional Commuting and Migration Choices," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 45(4), pages 420-446, September.
    7. Thursby, Jerry G. & Thursby, Marie C., 2000. "Interstate Cigarette Bootlegging: Extent, Revenue Losses, and Effects of Federal Intervention," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 53(1), pages 59-78, March.
    8. Coats, R. Morris, 1995. "A Note on Estimating Cross-Border Effects of State Cigarette Taxes," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association, vol. 48(4), pages 573-84, December.
    9. Thursby, Jerry G. & Thursby, Marie C., 2000. "Interstate Cigarette Bootlegging: Extent, Revenue Losses, and Effects of Federal Intervention," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association, vol. 53(n. 1), pages 59-78, March.
    10. Asplund, Marcus & Friberg, Richard & Wilander, Fredrik, 2007. "Demand and distance: Evidence on cross-border shopping," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(1-2), pages 141-157, February.
    11. Coats, R. Morris, 1995. "A Note on Estimating Cross-Border Effects of State Cigarette Taxes," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 48(4), pages 573-584, December.
    12. FitzGerald, John & Quinn, T. P. & Whelan, Brendan J. & Williams, J. A., 1988. "An Analysis of Cross-Border Shopping," Research Series, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), number GRS137, June.
    13. Rietveld, P. & Bruinsma, F. R. & van Vuuren, D. J., 2001. "Spatial graduation of fuel taxes; consequences for cross-border and domestic fuelling," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 35(5), pages 433-457, June.
    14. Banfi, Silvia & Filippini, Massimo & Hunt, Lester C., 2005. "Fuel tourism in border regions: The case of Switzerland," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(5), pages 689-707, September.
    15. Thomas Matha & Ladislav Wintr, 2009. "Commuting flows across bordering regions: a note," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(7), pages 735-738.
    16. Thomas Y. Mathä & Alessandro Porpiglia & Michael Ziegelmeyer, 2012. "Income, Wealth and Consumption of Cross-Border Commuters to Luxembourg," BCL working papers 78, Central Bank of Luxembourg.
    17. Egger, Peter & Pfaffermayr, Michael & Winner, Hannes, 2005. "Commodity taxation in a 'linear' world: a spatial panel data approach," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(5), pages 527-541, September.
    18. Marie Thursby & Richard Jensen & Jerry Thursby, 1991. "Smuggling, Camouflaging, and Market Structure," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 106(3), pages 789-814.
    19. repec:mea:meawpa:14284 is not listed on IDEAS
    20. Ian Crawford & Sarah Tanner, 1995. "Bringing it all back home: alcohol taxation and cross-border shopping," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 16(2), pages 94-114, May.
    21. Søren Bo Nielsen, 2001. "A Simple Model of Commodity Taxation and Cross‐border Shopping," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 103(4), pages 599-623, December.
    22. Stehr, Mark, 2007. "The Effect of Sunday Sales Bans and Excise Taxes on Drinking and Cross–Border Shopping for Alcoholic Beverages," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 60(1), pages 85-105, March.
    23. Mr. Michael Keen, 2002. "Some International Issues in Commodity Taxation," IMF Working Papers 2002/124, International Monetary Fund.
    24. Walsh, Michael J. & Jones, Jonathan D., 1988. "More Evidence on the "Border Tax" Effect: The Case of West Virginia, 1979-84," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association, vol. 41(2), pages 261-65, June.
    25. Mark D. Manuszak & Charles C. Moul, 2009. "How Far for a Buck? Tax Differences and the Location of Retail Gasoline Activity in Southeast Chicagoland," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 91(4), pages 744-765, November.
    26. Ohsawa, Yoshiaki, 1999. "Cross-border shopping and commodity tax competition among governments," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 33-51, January.
    27. Leal, Andrés & López-Laborda, Julio & Rodrigo, Fernando, 2009. "Prices, taxes and automotive fuel cross-border shopping," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 225-234.
    28. Sijbren Cnossen, 2006. "Tobacco Taxation in the European Union," FinanzArchiv: Public Finance Analysis, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 62(2), pages 305-322, June.
    29. Chiou Lesley & Muehlegger Erich, 2008. "Crossing the Line: Direct Estimation of Cross-Border Cigarette Sales and the Effect on Tax Revenue," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 8(1), pages 1-41, December.
    30. repec:kap:iaecre:v:16:y:2010:i:2:p:135-148 is not listed on IDEAS
    31. Sijbren Cnossen, 2006. "Tobacco Taxation in the European Union," CESifo Working Paper Series 1718, CESifo.
    32. Egger, Peter & Pfaffermayr, Michael & Winner, Hannes, 2005. "An unbalanced spatial panel data approach to US state tax competition," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 88(3), pages 329-335, September.
    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. Thomas Y. Mathä & Alessandro Porpiglia & Michael Ziegelmeyer, 2014. "Wealth differences across borders and the effect of real estate price dynamics: Evidence from two household surveys," BCL working papers 90, Central Bank of Luxembourg.
    2. Thomas Y. Mathä & Alessandro Porpiglia & Michael Ziegelmeyer, 2017. "Cross-border commuting and consuming: an empirical investigation," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(20), pages 2011-2026, April.
    3. Guillaume Claveres & Thomas Y. Mathä & Giuseppe Pulina & Jan Stráský & Nicolas Woloszko & Michael Ziegelmeyer, 2020. "Housing and inequality: The case of Luxembourg and its cross-border workers," BCL working papers 144, Central Bank of Luxembourg.
    4. Yiwen Chen & Thomas Y. Mathä & Giuseppe Pulina & Barbara Schuster & Michael Ziegelmeyer, 2020. "The Luxembourg Household Finance Consumption Survey: Results from the third wave," BCL working papers 142, Central Bank of Luxembourg.
    5. Thomas Y. Mathä & Alessandro Porpiglia & Michael Ziegelmeyer, 2018. "Wealth differences across borders and the effect of real estate price dynamics: Evidence from two household surveys," Journal of Income Distribution, Ad libros publications inc., vol. 26(1), pages 1-35, March.
    6. repec:jid:journl:y:2018:v:26:i:3:p:15-49 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Yiwen Chen & Thomas Y. Mathä & Giuseppe Pulina & Michael Ziegelmeyer, 2021. "The Cross border Household Finance Consumption Survey: Results from the third wave," BCL working papers 154, Central Bank of Luxembourg.
    8. Thomas Y. Mathä & Giuseppe Pulina & Michael Ziegelmeyer, 2018. "The Cross-border Household Finance and Consumption Survey: Results from the second wave," BCL working papers 119, Central Bank of Luxembourg.
    9. Vincent FROMENTIN & Joris MICHEL & Sylvain WEBER, 2021. "L’effet des fluctuations financières sur le nombre de travailleurs frontaliers : une analyse comparative du Luxembourg et de la Suisse," Region et Developpement, Region et Developpement, LEAD, Universite du Sud - Toulon Var, vol. 53, pages 51-68.

    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. repec:mea:meawpa:14284 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Andrés Leal & Julio López-Laborda & Fernando Rodrigo, 2010. "Cross-Border Shopping: A Survey," International Advances in Economic Research, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 16(2), pages 135-148, May.
    3. repec:kap:iaecre:v:16:y:2010:i:2:p:135-148 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Leal, Andrés & López-Laborda, Julio & Rodrigo, Fernando, 2009. "Prices, taxes and automotive fuel cross-border shopping," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 225-234.
    5. Ghoddusi, Hamed & Rafizadeh, Nima & Rahmati, Mohammad H., 2018. "Price elasticity of gasoline smuggling: A semi-structural estimation approach," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 171-185.
    6. Lesley Chiou & Erich Muehlegger, 2014. "Consumer Response to Cigarette Excise Tax Changes," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 67(3), pages 621-650, September.
    7. DeCicca, Philip & Kenkel, Donald & Liu, Feng, 2013. "Excise tax avoidance: The case of state cigarette taxes," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(6), pages 1130-1141.
    8. Chiou, Lesley & Muehlegger, Erich, 2008. "Crossing the Line: The Effect of Cross Border Cigarette Sales on State Excise Tax Revenues," Working Paper Series rwp08-012, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.
    9. Thomas Y. Mathä & Alessandro Porpiglia & Michael Ziegelmeyer, 2018. "Wealth differences across borders and the effect of real estate price dynamics: Evidence from two household surveys," Journal of Income Distribution, Ad libros publications inc., vol. 26(1), pages 1-35, March.
    10. Chiou Lesley & Muehlegger Erich, 2008. "Crossing the Line: Direct Estimation of Cross-Border Cigarette Sales and the Effect on Tax Revenue," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 8(1), pages 1-41, December.
    11. Christian Ben Lakhdar & Nicolas Gérard Vaillant & François-Charles Wolff, 2016. "Does smoke cross the border? Cigarette tax avoidance in France," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 17(9), pages 1073-1089, December.
    12. Keuschnigg, Christian & Loretz, Simon & Winner, Hannes, 2014. "Tax Competition and Tax Coordination in the European Union: A Survey," Working Papers in Economics 2014-4, University of Salzburg.
    13. Goel, Rajeev K. & Payne, James E. & Saunoris, James W., 2016. "Spillovers from the beer market to U.S. cigarette demand," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 292-297.
    14. Jansen, David-Jan & Jonker, Nicole, 2018. "Fuel tourism in Dutch border regions: Are only salient price differentials relevant?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 143-153.
    15. James E. Prieger & Jonathan Kulick, 2018. "Cigarette Taxes And Illicit Trade In Europe," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 56(3), pages 1706-1723, July.
    16. Desiderio Romero-Jordán & Marta Jorge Garc𫑉n鳠 & Santiago Álvarez Garc𨀍, 2013. "The impact of fuel tourism on retailers’ diesel price in Spanish neighbouring regions," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(4), pages 407-413, February.
    17. Lovenheim, Michael F. & Slemrod, Joel, 2010. "The fatal toll of driving to drink: The effect of minimum legal drinking age evasion on traffic fatalities," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 62-77, January.
    18. Saša Ranđelović & Milica Bisić, 2021. "Excise duties harmonisation and smoking in a model with cross-border arbitrage," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 48(2), pages 507-532, May.
    19. Austan Goolsbee & Michael F. Lovenheim & Joel Slemrod, 2010. "Playing with Fire: Cigarettes, Taxes, and Competition from the Internet," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 2(1), pages 131-154, February.
    20. repec:wvu:wpaper:05-12 is not listed on IDEAS
    21. Jansen, David-Jan & Jonker, Nicole, 2018. "Fuel tourism in Dutch border regions: Are only salient price differentials relevant?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 143-153.
    22. Kennedy, Sean & Lyons, Sean & Morgenroth, Edgar & Walsh, Keith, 2017. "Assessing the level of cross-border fuel tourism," MPRA Paper 76961, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    23. Bree L. Dority & Mary G. Mcgarvey & Eric C. Thompson & Jyothsna Sainath, 2013. "Local And Statewide Smoke-Free Laws In Nebraska: The Effects On Keno Establishments," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 31(3), pages 549-564, July.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • F15 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Economic Integration
    • R12 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Size and Spatial Distributions of Regional Economic Activity; Interregional Trade (economic geography)
    • R23 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population
    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:taf:applec:v:49:y:2017:i:20:p:2011-2026. 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: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/RAEC20 .

    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.