Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP4682
Authors: Jan Brueckner; Harris Selod
Abstract: This paper analyzes the political economy of transport-system choice, with the goal of gaining an understanding of the forces involved in this important urban public policy decision. Transport systems pose a continuous trade-off between time and money cost, so that a city can choose a fast system with a high money cost per mile or a slower, cheaper system. The paper compares the socially optimal transport system to the one chosen under the voting process, focusing on both homogeneous and heterogeneous cities, while considering different landownership arrangements. The analysis identifies a bias toward underinvestment in transport quality in heterogeneous cities.
Keywords: Income heterogeneity; Multiple transport systems; Overinvestment in transport quality
JEL Codes: H41; R42
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| landownership (Q15) | transport system efficiency (L91) |
| consumer heterogeneity (D19) | transport system characteristics (L91) |
| skill distribution (J24) | transport system investment (R42) |
| landownership (Q15) | overinvestment in transport quality (R42) |
| transport costs (L91) | land rents (R21) |
| land rents (R21) | consumption patterns (D10) |
| landownership arrangements (Q15) | transport system characteristics (L91) |
| skill distributions (J24) | transport system characteristics (L91) |