Abstract
This paper investigates the effect of big-city life on individuals’ well-being. Combining data on Italian municipalities’ characteristics with individual-level survey data, I find that big city dwellers feel worse off. This association is not driven by omitted variable bias or by spatial sorting of citizens. Commute time accounts for most of the differences in subjective well-being among cities of different sizes. There is suggestive evidence that the negative effect of commuting on well-being stems from the reduced time availability for fostering personal relationships and engaging in leisure activities.
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