Commuting and the Economic Milieu : An Investigation of the Choice to Commute Related to Labor Demand, Worker Competition and Wage

We calculate aggregate economic-milieu variables and use them as explanatory variables to study the Swedish commuting pattern. The variables are of accessibility type (i.e. spatially discounted) and are logarithmic ratios. We start from the assumption of utility maximizing individuals. The probability to commute using a link increases with expected utility. We apply two models: the quantity model and the wage model. The explanatory power is high and the results are as expected. Labor demand is positively related to utility. Worker competition is negatively related to utility. Wage is positively related to utility. A municipality, which isnot a regional center, can strive to increase the number of jobs within the municipality. The second best, for such a municipality, is that jobs are available in the municipality that is the regional center. Otherwise, the municipality and region will economically decline