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Transportation and Quality of Life: Evidence from Denmark

Author

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  • Hybel, Jesper

    (Aalborg University, Department of the Built Environment)

  • Mulalic, Ismir

    (Department of Economics, Copenhagen Business School)

Abstract

This paper investigates the importance of transportation for quality of life in Denmark. We first calibrate a simple general equilibrium model to analyse how local wage levels, housing costs, and commuting costs vary across urban areas as well as to construct a quality of life index that measures a representative household's willingness to pay for local amenities. We find that the quality of life is high in large cities. Wages and rents are also substantially higher in the urban areas that are dense. We then regress the quality of life index on observed amenities to infer how much quality of life is associated with transportation. Our empirical results suggest that the quality of the public transport system is particularly important for the quality of life.

Suggested Citation

  • Hybel, Jesper & Mulalic, Ismir, 2021. "Transportation and Quality of Life: Evidence from Denmark," Working Papers 14-2021, Copenhagen Business School, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:cbsnow:2021_014
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Quality of life; Rent gradients; Wage gradients; Commuting costs; Amenities; Transportation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H40 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - General
    • J30 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - General
    • O52 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Europe
    • R10 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - General
    • R40 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Transportation Economics - - - General

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