Commuting Time and Happiness in Seoul

Abstract

Commuting is essential for our lives, but sometimes it demands a lot of our valuable time. This study aims to explore the relationship between commuting time and happiness. To do so, we first discuss a theoretical framework for the relationship between commuting and subjective well-being based on the urban economic theory. Second, we empirically investigate how increasing commuting time affects happiness using a panel dataset from the 2005~2015 Seoul Survey Data. Finally, we calculate the marginal rate of substitution between income and commuting time to estimate the monetary value of commuting time. Our results show that an increase in commute time decreases happiness. Particularly, using a car are much more sensitive in terms of their subjective well-being than using public transportation when their commuting time increase. We also find that happiness increases with income in Seoul. In addition, our results present that individual commuters characteristics and regional environments are also important determinants in explaining happiness in Seoul. Our results suggest that policy efforts for reducing commuting time is important for improving commuters well-being. Particularly, an effort for reducing physical distance between jobs and housing through the spatial integration of them is necessary in a long-term perspective.