Job Search and Commuting Time.

The authors structurally analyze a job search model for unemployed individuals that allows jobs to have different wage/commuting-time combinations. The structural parameter of interest is the degree of willingness to pay for commuting time. The authors use a unique dataset containing responses by unemployed individuals on the optimal search strategy in order to estimate this parameter without the need to rely on functional form assumptions. They address specification errors in the model and measurement errors in the data. The results identify types of individuals who have a high disutility of commuting time.