TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Botha, Ferdi
AU  - Kabátek, Jan
AU  - Meekes, Jordy
AU  - Wilkins, Roger
        TI  - The Effects of Commuting and Working from Home Arrangements on Mental Health
        PY  - 2023/Nov/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 16618
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/publications/dp16618
        AB  - In this study, we quantify the causal effects of commuting time and working from home (WFH) arrangements on the mental health of Australian men and women. Leveraging rich panel-data models, we first show that adverse effects of commuting time manifest only among men. These are concentrated among individuals with pre-existing mental health issues, and they are modest in magnitude. Second, we show that WFH arrangements have large positive effects on women's mental health, provided that the WFH component is large enough. The effects are once again concentrated among individuals with pre-existing mental health issues. This effect specificity is novel and extends beyond Australia: we show that it also underlies the adverse effects of commuting time on the mental health of British women. Our findings highlight the importance of targeted interventions and support for individuals who are dealing with mental health problems.
        KW  - mental health
KW  - commuting
KW  - working from home
KW  - unconditional quantile regression
        ER  -