Going the distance? The effects of commute distance on teacher body composition of schools.

In this study, I estimate the causal effect of increased commute distance to schools on how well theycan attract teachers. I identify the causal effect of an increase in commute distance using a naturalexperiment in which more than one-third of Danish teacher training colleges(TTCs) closed, where someschools experienced an increase in distance to the nearest TTC while other schools did not. I hypothesizethat the increase in distance to the nearest TTC would have led to an increase in commute distance,particularly for newly graduated teachers, and that this would have adverse effects on schools’ abilityto attract teachers. I estimate the effects using a differences-in-differences design, accounting for thestaggered rollout of TTC closures using newly developed estimators. While proximity to the nearestTTC is mentioned in the scholarly literature as a factor impacting schools’ attractiveness to teachers,the results in this paper suggest that the effects are inconsequential. The results of this study suggestthat 1) The hypothetical effects of commute distance are likely overestimated in the literature on teachermobility and recruitment, and 2) The willingness of teachers to commute is likely underestimated. Assuch, the results of this study provide evidence that substantial increases in commute distance are requiredto produce changes in teacher composition