IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/econjl/v128y2018i616p2969-3007.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Commuting and Taxes: Theory, Empirics and Welfare Implications

Author

Listed:
  • David R. Agrawal
  • William H. Hoyt

Abstract

We examine the effect of interstate differences in income taxes on commuting times. Our theoretical model introduces a border into a model of an urban area and shows that differences in average tax rates distort commuting patterns, but the sign of the effect depends on whether taxes are residence‐based or employment‐based. Empirically, tax differentials have a large effect on commuting times for affluent households and mobile households. We show that commuting times are a sufficient statistic to measure the spatial welfare effects of tax policy. The model and empirical design can be used by economists to study other policy differences.

Suggested Citation

  • David R. Agrawal & William H. Hoyt, 2018. "Commuting and Taxes: Theory, Empirics and Welfare Implications," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 128(616), pages 2969-3007, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:econjl:v:128:y:2018:i:616:p:2969-3007
    DOI: 10.1111/ecoj.12550
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/ecoj.12550
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/ecoj.12550?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
    ---><---

    Citations

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


    Cited by:

    1. Vidar Christiansen & Odd E. Nygård, 2024. "Tax Treatment of Commuter Cost," CESifo Working Paper Series 11080, CESifo.
    2. Agrawal, David R. & Zhao, Weihua, 2023. "Taxing Uber," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 221(C).
    3. Shirley, Peter, 2018. "The response of commuting patterns to cross-border policy differentials: Evidence from the American Community Survey," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 1-16.
    4. Enrico Rubolino & Tommaso Giommoni, 2023. "Taxation and Mobility: Evidence from Tax Decentralization in Italy," CESifo Working Paper Series 10655, CESifo.
    5. David R. Agrawal & Dirk Foremny, 2019. "Relocation of the Rich: Migration in Response to Top Tax Rate Changes from Spanish Reforms," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 101(2), pages 214-232, May.
    6. Melissa Gentry & Nadia Greenhalgh-Stanley & Shawn M. Rohlin & Jeffrey P. Thompson, 2020. "Dynamic Sales Tax Competition: Evidence from Panel Data at the Border," Working Papers 20-5, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
    7. David R. Agrawal & Jan K. Brueckner, 2022. "Taxes and Telework: The Impacts of State Income Taxes in a Work-from-Home Economy," CESifo Working Paper Series 9975, CESifo.
    8. Loschiavo, David, 2021. "Big-city life (dis)satisfaction? The effect of urban living on subjective well-being," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 192(C), pages 740-764.
    9. Gabriel Loumeau, 2020. "Regional Borders, Commuting and Transport Network Integration," KOF Working papers 20-489, KOF Swiss Economic Institute, ETH Zurich.
    10. Agrawal, David R. & Trandel, Gregory A., 2019. "Dynamics of policy adoption with state dependence," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    11. Tadashi Morita & Yasuhiro Sato & Kazuhiro Yamamoto, 2020. "Demographics and competition for capital in political economy," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 27(4), pages 865-889, August.
    12. Abrahams, Scott & Mabli, James, 2024. "Commuting barriers to low-wage employment," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    13. Wagner, Gary A. & Rork, Jonathan C., 2023. "Does state tax reciprocity affect interstate commuting? Evidence from a natural experiment," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    14. Beatrix Eugster & Raphaël Parchet, 2019. "Culture and Taxes," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 127(1), pages 296-337.
    15. David R. Agrawal & Dirk Foremny, 2018. "Fiscal Decentralisation and Mobility: Evidence from Spain’s Income Tax System," ifo DICE Report, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 16(02), pages 38-44, August.
    16. Andrew Goodman-Bacon, 2016. "The Long-Run Effects of Childhood Insurance Coverage: Medicaid Implementation, Adult Health, and Labor Market Outcomes," NBER Working Papers 22899, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. José Victor C. Giarola & Olivier Marie & Frank Cörvers & Hans Schmeets, 2023. "Tax-Induced Emigration: Who Flees High Taxes? Evidence from the Netherlands," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 23-053/V, Tinbergen Institute.

    More about this item

    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:wly:econjl:v:128:y:2018:i:616:p:2969-3007. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/resssea.html .

    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.