Return to Commuting Distance in Sweden

The aim of this paper is to estimate the magnitude of the economic return to commuting and compare the relative returns received by men and women. We apply fixed effect models to deal with individual unobserved heterogeneity that could potentially generate an endogeneity issue. We use a large dataset based on Administrative Registers for Sweden, which gathers detailed information on residential and job location, and indirectly on commuting. Results indicate that individuals receive relatively small compensations for commuting, with higher returns in agglomerations. Moreover, the relative return as a fraction of hourly wage is approximately similar across genders. This last finding provides evidence of similar bargaining powers for both men and women.