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Remote Work and City Structure

Author

Listed:
  • Ferdinando Monte
  • Charly Porcher
  • Esteban Rossi-Hansberg

Abstract

Relative to remote work, working downtown facilitates valuable interactions with other in-office workers, but entails commuting costs. The resulting coordination mechanism can lead to multiple stationary equilibria with varying levels of remote work. Temporary reductions in commuters, as in the COVID-19 pandemic, can then lead to persistently large fractions of remote workers. Cell-phone-based mobility data for the U.S. shows that commuting trips in the largest cities, which are more likely to exhibit multiplicity, have stabilized at only 60% of pre-pandemic levels, while they are fully back in smaller cities. Cities with permanently low commuting experience average welfare losses of 2.3%.

Suggested Citation

  • Ferdinando Monte & Charly Porcher & Esteban Rossi-Hansberg, 2023. "Remote Work and City Structure," NBER Working Papers 31494, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:31494
    Note: EFG ITI
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Ghinami, Francesca, 2023. "Effects of remote work on population distribution across cities: US evidence from a QSE model," SocArXiv krnzq, Center for Open Science.
    2. Diego Mayorga & Karla Neri Hernández & Jorge Pérez Pérez, 2024. "Housing Price Gradients in Mexico City During the COVID-19 Pandemic," Working Papers 2024-18, Banco de México.
    3. Jinwon Kim & Dede Long, 2024. "Working from home, commuting time, and intracity house‐price gradients," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 64(3), pages 866-895, June.
    4. Marcus Berliant & Masahisa Fujita, 2025. "Knowledge creation through multimodal communication," The Japanese Economic Review, Springer, vol. 76(4), pages 821-890, October.
    5. Aizawa, Hiroki & Saka, Takuhiro, 2024. "Disutility caused by remote work in urban system," MPRA Paper 122913, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Burdett, Ashley & Etheridge, Ben & Tang, Li & Wang, Yikai, 2024. "Worker productivity during Covid-19 and adaptation to working from home," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    7. José María Barrero & Nicholas Bloom & Steven J. Davis, 2023. "The Evolution of Work from Home," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 37(4), pages 23-50, Fall.
    8. Kohei Takeda & Atsushi Yamagishi, 2024. "The economic dynamics of city structure: Evidence from Hiroshima's recovery," CEP Discussion Papers dp1988, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    9. Cristea, Anca D. & Miromanova, Anna, 2025. "Telecommuting and the recovery of passenger aviation post-COVID-19," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 42(C).
    10. Mert Akan & Jose Maria Barrero & Nicholas Bloom & Thomas Bowen & Shelby R. Buckman & Steven J. Davis & Hyoseul Kim, 2025. "The New Geography of Labor Markets," NBER Working Papers 33582, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Lorenzo Aldeco Leo & Alejandrina Salcedo, 2024. "Remote Work and High Proximity Employment in Mexico," Working Papers 2024-17, Banco de México.
    12. Schmutz-Bloch, Benoît & Sidibé, Modibo, 2024. "Matching, centrality and the urban network," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    13. Bick, Alexander & Blandin, Adam & Mertens, Karel & Rubinton, Hannah, 2024. "Work from Home and Interstate Migration," CEPR Discussion Papers 19101, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    14. Behrens, Kristian & Kichko, Sergei & Thisse, Jacques-Francois, 2024. "Working from home: Too much of a good thing?," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    15. Jerry Chen & Li Wan, 2024. "Remote working and experiential wellbeing: A latent lifestyle perspective using UK time use survey before and during COVID-19," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 19(7), pages 1-18, July.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D24 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Production; Cost; Capital; Capital, Total Factor, and Multifactor Productivity; Capacity
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
    • J23 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Demand
    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
    • R32 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Real Estate Markets, Spatial Production Analysis, and Firm Location - - - Other Spatial Production and Pricing Analysis

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