Multi-Worker Households Residential Location Choices--A Disaggregate Comparative Approach

Author: Falan Guan

Dissertation School: University of Southern California

Abstract:

The central purpose of this research is to investigate multi-worker households' commuting and residential location choice behavior, and the constraints arising from socioeconomic and racial/ethnic backgrounds as well as exogenous employment distributions, faced by multi-worker families, especially low-income minority households in their choices of housing and residential locations. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are more than 60 percent of married-couple families, of which both spouses work. Households with two or more earners are the majority in the United States. Existing literature in urban economics, however, has not adequately addressed the issues of multi-worker household residential location choices and commuting behavior which has significant bearings on housing development, land use and transportation planning, urban economic development, and other urban service provisions. Little is known about how multi-worker households trade off different travel needs, and jointly decide where to live, where to work, and how to commute. For two-worker families with both husband and wife employed, it is frequently impossible to find housing located conveniently to the jobs of both earners. Households with school-age children may further complicate the decisions. If access to good schools is a commonly believed important determinant of residential locations for households with children, then why do some families choose poor quality schools for their children?

This proposed study attempts to address some of these questions by introducing bargaining theory, random utility theory, filtery theory, as well as human capital theory. Several hypotheses drawn on these theories and multidisciplinary literatures, revolving around commuting and location choices will be empirically tested on 1995 Nationwide Personal Travel Survey (NPTS) data. It focuses on socioeconomic factors such as income, race, gender, presence/absence of children, and other variables in determining worker's commuting patterns and households residential location choices. Discrete logit models are developed using 1995 NPTS household survey data in conjunction with person data and trip data, to model the dual nature of choices made by two worker households with or without children. Special attention will be given to low- and lower- middle-income minority households.

For comparison purposes, similar logic models are also designed for single worker households with and without children. The focus of this research is to discover and discuss the different signs and the strengths of coefficient variables among different types of households: two- worker versus one, with and without children, low-income minority households with or without children. It examines the constrained preferences and consumption patterns and the policy implications for housing and schooling development as well as land use and transportation planning.

The study will focus on the five-county Southern California metropolis. My findings will shed some light on the challenging issues of multi-worker household residential location choice and commuting behavior, and to provide significant new insights to assist policy designs for effective housing development, land use, and transportation planning in this region.

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