Co-author(s):
Presented in: 10th Urbanization and Development Conference, 2026 AREUEA International Conference at Medellin, Colombia, 2024 AREUEA-ASSA Winter Meeting, 2024 Seminario de Microeconomia Aplicada (MAP), 17th North American Meeting of the Urban Economics Association, 12th European Meeting of the Urban Economics Association, 98th Conference of the Western Economic Association International, 2022 LACEA’s Urban Economics Network Meetings
Abstract: I study how urban transit infrastructure affects gender inequality when commuting decisions are made within households. I use georeferenced household, census, firm, commuting, and infrastructure data from Lima, Peru, where Line 1 of the Metro and the BRT changed commute times across the city. I document four facts: women are more sensitive to commute times than men, especially when married; spouses’ commuting choices are interdependent; relative earnings within the household shape how couples trade off each spouse’s commute; and the new infrastructure reduced gender earnings inequality in more exposed locations. I build a general equilibrium model of a city in which singles and couples choose where to live, where to work, and how to allocate resources within the household. The facts discipline the model by showing how costly commutes are for different household members and how couples trade off each spouse’s earnings and commute when choosing where to work. The model implies that better transit affects couples through two margins: changes in access to jobs, and changes in how the household divides the gains from work. The transit infrastructure increases real GDP by 0.4 percent under interdependent commuting, compared with 1.3 percent under an independent benchmark. Finally, the infrastructure raises wives’ earnings in dual earner couples, but it increases the welfare gap because part of the consumption gain is used to compensate husbands for the household commuting arrangement.
Funding: CAF - Development Bank of Latin America
Awards: Honorable Mention, Best Student Paper Prize, Urban Economic Association, Milan 2023