Does commuting affect health?

Publication type

Journal Article

Author

Publication date

August 15, 2016

Summary:

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. Copyright
© 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Published in

Health Economics

Volume and page numbers

Volume: 25 , p.984 -1

DOI

http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/hec.3199

ISSN

10579230

Subjects

Notes

Is referenced by: Royal Society for Public Health (2016) ‘Health in a hurry: the impact of rush hour commuting on our health and wellbeing’. London: Royal Society for Public Health.

Not held in Research Library - bibliographic reference only

#523165

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