The Economics of Spatial Mobility: Theory and Evidence Using Smartphone Data*

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Miyauchi, Yuhei; Nakajima, Kentaro; Redding, Stephen J.
• 署名单位: Boston University; Hitotsubashi University; Stanford University; National Bureau of Economic Research; Centre for Economic Policy Research - UK
• 刊物名称: QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0033-5533
• DOI: 10.1093/qje/qjaf038
• 发表日期: 2025
• 页码: 2507-2570
• 关键词: AMENITIES EVIDENCE; MODEL; agglomeration; density; GOODS; time

摘要

We develop a tractable quantitative framework for modeling the rich patterns of spatial mobility observed in smartphone data. We show that travel is frequently undertaken as part of a travel itinerary, defined as a journey starting and ending at home that can include more than one intermediate stop on a given day. We show that these travel itineraries provide microfoundations for consumption externalities and generate both complementarity and substitutability between locations. We show that the consumption externalities implied by travel itineraries are central to matching quasi-experimental evidence from the shift to working from home. We find that these consumption externalities are key drivers of the agglomeration of economic activity in central cities and shape the relative welfare gains from alternative transport improvements in favor of investments in central cities.