From Point A to Point B: Physical Mobility and Quality of Life Across US Counties

open_access
Open Access
Author:
Schnipper, Adam
Area of Honors:
Political Science
Degree:
Bachelor of Science
Document Type:
Thesis
Thesis Supervisors:
Isaac Michael Pollert, Thesis Supervisor
Matthew Richard Golder, Thesis Honors Advisor
Marie Hojnacki, Faculty Reader
Keywords:
Quality of Life
Transit
Transportation
US Counties
Infrastructure
Abstract:
Previous research has explored the role of culture, walkability, and various government policy in quality-of-life outcomes. Adding to this existing body of work, I hypothesize that stronger transportation quality and access create better quality of life outcomes. My analysis relies on county-level data, where economic distress scores represent the economic component to quality of life and the frequency of unhealthy days represents the health component of quality of life. Commute time and type, along with bridge quality, are used as predictors in an OLS regression with state fixed effects. I find mixed support for the connection between transit quality and quality of life. Poor quality bridges are associated with worse quality of life outcomes than if those bridges were good. However, longer commute times are associated with better quality of life outcomes, contrary to my hypothesis. I find no support for the connection between transit access and quality of life. Furthermore, I find that areas with more workers who commute by any mode have worse quality of life outcomes relative to those that work from home. Results show that whether a worker commutes at all seems to be more important than how they choose to commute, and that governmental investment in existing transportation infrastructure may be more beneficial than the expansion of old or building of new transit.