Does Commuting Affect Health?

Annemarie Kuenn*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

This paper analyzes the relation between commuting time and health in the UK. I focus on four different types of health outcomes: subjective health measures, objective health measures, health behavior, and healthcare utilization. Fixed effect models are estimated with British Household Panel Survey data. I find that whereas objective health and health behavior are barely affected by commuting time, subjective health measures are clearly lower for people who commute longer. A longer commuting time is, moreover, related to more visits to the general practitioner. Effects turn out to be more pronounced for women and for commuters driving a car. For women, commuting time is also negatively related to regular exercise and positively to calling in sick.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)984-1004
Number of pages21
JournalHealth Economics
Volume25
Issue number8
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Aug 2016

Keywords

  • health
  • commuting time
  • transportation mode
  • TRAFFIC CONGESTION
  • STRESS
  • COMMUNITY
  • TIME
  • TRANSPORTATION
  • VARIABILITY
  • OBESITY
  • TRAVEL

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