Cross-border commuting and consuming: an empirical investigation

Abstract

Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. The HFCN collects household-level data on households' finances and consumption in the euro area through a harmonised survey. The HFCN aims at studying in depth the micro-level structural information on euro area households' assets and liabilities. The objectives of the network are: Terms of use: Documents in EconStor may1) understanding economic behaviour of individual households, developments in aggregate variables and the interactions between the two;2) evaluating the impact of shocks, policies and institutional changes on household portfolios and other variables;3) understanding the implications of heterogeneity for aggregate variables; 4) estimating choices of different households and their reaction to economic shocks; 5) building and calibrating realistic economic models incorporating heterogeneous agents; 6) gaining insights into issues such as monetary policy transmission and financial stability.The refereeing process of this paper has been co-ordinated by a team composed of Gabriel Fagan (ECB), Pirmin Fessler (Oesterreichische Nationalbank), Michalis Haliassos (Goethe University Frankfurt) , Tullio Jappelli (University of Naples Federico II), Sébastien PérezDuarte (ECB), Jiri Slacalek (ECB), Federica Teppa (De Nederlandsche Bank), Peter Tufano (Oxford University) and Philip Vermeulen (ECB).The paper is released in order to make the results of HFCN research generally available, in preliminary form, to encourage comments and suggestions prior to final publication. The views expressed in the paper are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the ESCB. Abstract: This paper analyses empirically how cross-border consumption varies across product and services categories and across household characteristics. It focuses on the part of crossborder sales that arise due to work-related cross-border crossings; it analyses the crossborder consumption behaviour of cross-border commuter households residing in Belgium, France and Germany and working in Luxembourg. In total, it is estimated that these households spend €925 million per annum in Luxembourg, reflecting about 17% of their gross annual income from Luxembourg and contributing about 10% to total household final consumption expenditure in Luxembourg. Cross-border consumption expenditure is shown to depend on individual and household characteristics, such as total household income, the number of cross-border commuters in the household, distance between home and work, as well as price level (...

Local sales tax exportation: The impact of commuters, tourists, and college students on the tax base

“…The literature suggests that within cross‐border shopping the cost is lowest to those who are commuting since they are already traveling across the border (Mathä et al, 2017; Rohlin & Thompson, 2018). Therefore, we expect to see that each commuter into a county will increase the sales tax base.…”

“…This is in keeping with expectations and prior research that finds that commuters are an important component to cross-border expenditures which are typically tangible items rather than services which often go untaxed. In fact, previous research by Mathä et al (2017) suggests that commuters spend close to 20% of their annual income across the border. Our estimates would then suggest the median income is approximately $70,000, which is especially plausible given the research that shows that longer commutes are associated with higher incomes (Hong et al, 2018;Morris & Zhou, 2018;Zhu et al, 2017).…”

Wealth Differences across Borders and the Effect of Real Estate Price Dynamics: Evidence from Two Household Surveys

“…Manuszak and Moul, 2009 for fuel, Thursby, Jensen and Thursby, 1991 for tobacco and Asplund, Friberg and Wilander, 2007 for alcohol). This is for example also the case for Luxembourg and its neighbouring countries (Mathä, Porpiglia and Ziegelmeyer, 2014a). This paper can be seen in light of the above literature on boundaries, but relates it to a different economic setting -household wealth differences across borders.…”

Housing and inequality

“…Crossing a border to shop or work is an economic decision, often based on arbitrage opportunities that exploit price and wage discontinuities (e.g. Mathä, Porpiglia and Ziegelmeyer, 2017). In Luxembourg, a substantial share of workers commute every day from the neighbouring regions.…”