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Bottleneck congestion and distribution of work start times: The economics of staggered work hours revisited

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  • Takayama, Yuki

Abstract

Since the seminal work of Henderson (Henderson, J.V., 1981. The economics of staggered work hours. Journal of Urban Economics 9 (3), 349–364), a number of studies have examined the effect of staggered work hours by analyzing models of work start time choice that consider the trade-off between negative congestion externalities and positive production externalities. However, these studies employed flow congestion models to describe traffic congestion. This study develops a model of work start time choice with bottleneck congestion and discloses the intrinsic properties of the model. To this end, this study extends Henderson’s model to incorporate bottleneck congestion. By utilizing the properties of a potential game, we characterize equilibrium and optimal distributions of work start times. We also show that Pigouvian tax/subsidy policies generally yield multiple equilibria and that the first-best optimum must be a stable equilibrium under Pigouvian policies, whereas the second-best optimum in which policymakers cannot eliminate queuing congestion can be unstable.

Suggested Citation

  • Takayama, Yuki, 2015. "Bottleneck congestion and distribution of work start times: The economics of staggered work hours revisited," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 81(P3), pages 830-847.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:transb:v:81:y:2015:i:p3:p:830-847
    DOI: 10.1016/j.trb.2015.07.021
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    Cited by:

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    2. Osawa, Minoru & Fu, Haoran & Akamatsu, Takashi, 2018. "First-best dynamic assignment of commuters with endogenous heterogeneities in a corridor network," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 117(PB), pages 811-831.
    3. Bao, Yue & Xiao, Feng & Gao, Zaihan & Gao, Ziyou, 2017. "Investigation of the traffic congestion during public holiday and the impact of the toll-exemption policy," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 58-81.
    4. Zhang, Fangni & Liu, Wei & Wang, Xiaolei & Yang, Hai, 2017. "A new look at the morning commute with household shared-ride: How does school location play a role?," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 198-217.
    5. Liu, Wei & Zhang, Fangni & Yang, Hai, 2017. "Modeling and managing morning commute with both household and individual travels," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 227-247.
    6. Luan, Xiaojie & Corman, Francesco, 2022. "Passenger-oriented traffic control for rail networks: An optimization model considering crowding effects on passenger choices and train operations," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 239-272.
    7. Li, Zhi-Chun & Huang, Hai-Jun & Yang, Hai, 2020. "Fifty years of the bottleneck model: A bibliometric review and future research directions," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 311-342.
    8. Verhoef, Erik T., 2020. "Optimal congestion pricing with diverging long-run and short-run scheduling preferences," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 191-209.
    9. Takayama, Yuki & Kuwahara, Masao, 2016. "Scheduling preferences, parking competition, and bottleneck congestion: A model of trip timing and parking location choices by heterogeneous commuters," MPRA Paper 68938, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Henderson, J. Vernon & Thisse, Jacques-François, 2024. "Urban and spatial economics after 50 years," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 125675, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    11. Su, Qida & Wang, David Z.W., 2020. "On the commute travel pattern with compressed work schedule," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 334-356.
    12. Takayama, Yuki, 2020. "Who gains and who loses from congestion pricing in a monocentric city with a bottleneck?," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 24(C).
    13. Takayama, Yuki, 2018. "Time-varying congestion tolling and urban spatial structure," MPRA Paper 89896, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Staggered work hours; Bottleneck congestion; Production effects; Potential game; Stability; Pigouvian policies;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C62 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Mathematical Methods; Programming Models; Mathematical and Simulation Modeling - - - Existence and Stability Conditions of Equilibrium
    • C72 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Noncooperative Games
    • C73 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Stochastic and Dynamic Games; Evolutionary Games
    • D62 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Externalities
    • R41 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Transportation Economics - - - Transportation: Demand, Supply, and Congestion; Travel Time; Safety and Accidents; Transportation Noise
    • R48 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Transportation Economics - - - Government Pricing and Policy

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