On the interdependence between residential and occupational location: discrete choice models.

Summary This thesis focuses on the interdependence between residential and occupational location choices. Issues such as the decision-making process, job accessibility, geographic distribution of jobs, and collective decision making of spouses, among others, are analyzed by developing discrete choice models. In this framework, we study location choices from two complementary perspectives. (1) First, we study the interdependence between the two location choices without considering the decision process within households. We develop a three-level nested logit model for residential and occupational location choices and study the effect of individual-specific attractiveness and accessibility measures (log-sums). The results of the first chapter show that the accessibility specific to each individual is a determining factor in the choice of residential location and that its effect differs along the life cycle of households. The attractiveness of job types is a better indicator of the choice of occupational location than the number of jobs. The evolution of measures of job attractiveness and accessibility is analyzed in the second chapter. (2) Second, we study the interdependence of residential and occupational location within the household. This thesis contributes to the collective models literature by developing a choice model with intra-household bargaining processes à la Chiappori, to describe the residential location choice of dual-working households. The final chapter develops and estimates a two-stage structural model to disentangle bargaining power and spousal time values. The results show that the couple's nationalities, their level of education, as well as the age difference between the spouses play a crucial role in determining bargaining power.