Moving Across Borders: Who is Willing to Migrate or to Commute?

This paper analyses the willingness to commute and migrate across borders. We focus on differences in the effects of individual characteristics on the willingness to migrate and the willingness to commute. Based on a random utility model we estimate a multinomial probit regression using individual level data on migration and commuting plans in regions of the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia bordering on Austria. We find that indirect costs of mobility have a smaller impact on the probability of being willing to commute. Variables associated with potential earnings have mostly low marginal effects and no evidence of selection by education.