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Does congestion negatively affect income growth and employment growth? Empirical evidence from US metropolitan regions

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  • Jin, Jangik
  • Rafferty, Peter

Abstract

Traffic congestion has long been among the biggest economic problems in US metropolitan areas. Scholars have argued the importance of research focusing on transportation planning that aims to mitigate traffic congestion and reduce economic costs. However, most existing work has overlooked the interrelationship between congestion and economic components. With this perspective, this study seeks to explore the interrelationship between congestion, income, and employment. To this end, we focus on 86 US metropolitan areas by utilizing a simultaneous equation model. The results show that there is an interrelationship between income growth, employment growth, and congestion growth, but their effects are somewhat different between periods of the economic boom in the 1990s and the economic recession in the 2000s. In addition, our findings clearly show that traffic congestion growth negatively affects income growth and employment growth. It is suggested that transportation policy that aims to reduce traffic congestion could provide economic benefits in terms of increasing employment growth as well as income growth.

Suggested Citation

  • Jin, Jangik & Rafferty, Peter, 2017. "Does congestion negatively affect income growth and employment growth? Empirical evidence from US metropolitan regions," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 1-8.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:trapol:v:55:y:2017:i:c:p:1-8
    DOI: 10.1016/j.tranpol.2016.12.003
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    2. Philipp Schrauth, 2022. "The Causal Effect of Cycling Infrastructure on Traffic and Accidents: Evidence from Pop-up Bike Lanes in Berlin," CEPA Discussion Papers 48, Center for Economic Policy Analysis.
    3. Saidi, Samir & Shahbaz, Muhammad & Akhtar, Pervaiz, 2018. "The long-run relationships between transport energy consumption, transport infrastructure, and economic growth in MENA countries," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 78-95.
    4. Jin, Jangik & Rafferty, Peter, 2018. "Externalities of auto traffic congestion growth: Evidence from the residential property values in the US Great Lakes megaregion," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 131-140.
    5. Kim, Amy M. & Ryerson, Megan S., 2018. "A long drive: Interregional airport passenger “leakage” in the U.S," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 237-244.
    6. Fontoura, Wlisses Bonelá & Chaves, Gisele de Lorena Diniz & Ribeiro, Glaydston Mattos, 2019. "The Brazilian urban mobility policy: The impact in São Paulo transport system using system dynamics," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 51-61.
    7. Selod,Harris & Soumahoro,Souleymane, 2020. "Big Data in Transportation : An Economics Perspective," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9308, The World Bank.
    8. Daniel Hummel, 2020. "The effects of population and housing density in urban areas on income in the United States," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 35(1), pages 27-47, February.
    9. Sarri, Paraskevi & Kaparias, Ioannis & Preston, John & Simmonds, David, 2023. "Using Land Use and Transportation Interaction (LUTI) models to determine land use effects from new vehicle transportation technologies; a regional scale of analysis," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 91-111.
    10. Jangik Jin & Danya Kim, 2018. "Expansion of the subway network and spatial distribution of population and employment in the Seoul metropolitan area," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 55(11), pages 2499-2521, August.
    11. Amparo Moyano & Marcin Stępniak & Borja Moya-Gómez & Juan Carlos García-Palomares, 2021. "Traffic congestion and economic context: changes of spatiotemporal patterns of traffic travel times during crisis and post-crisis periods," Transportation, Springer, vol. 48(6), pages 3301-3324, December.
    12. Chao Sun & Jian Lu, 2022. "The Relative Roles of Socioeconomic Factors and Governance Policies in Urban Traffic Congestion: A Global Perspective," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-17, September.
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    14. Magalhães, David José Ahouagi Vaz de & Rivera-Gonzalez, Carlos, 2021. "Car users’ attitudes towards an enhanced bus system to mitigate urban congestion in a developing country," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 452-464.

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