IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/pra/mprapa/123553.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Commuting and Internet Traffic Congestion

Author

Listed:
  • Berliant, Marcus

Abstract

We examine the fine microstructure of commuting in a game-theoretic setting with a continuum of commuters. Commuters' home and work locations can be heterogeneous. A commuter transport network is exogenous. Traffic speed is determined by local congestion at a time and place along a link, where local congestion at a time and place is endogenous. The model can be reinterpreted to apply to congestion on the internet. We find sufficient conditions for existence of equilibrium, that multiple equilibria are ubiquitous, and that the welfare properties of morning and evening commute equilibria differ on a generalization of a directed tree.

Suggested Citation

  • Berliant, Marcus, 2025. "Commuting and Internet Traffic Congestion," MPRA Paper 123553, University Library of Munich, Germany.
  • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:123553
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/123553/1/MPRA_paper_123553.pdf
    File Function: original version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ito, Takatoshi, 1979. "A Filippov solution of a system of differential equations with discontinuous right-hand sides," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 4(4), pages 349-354.
    2. Hideo Konishi, 2004. "Uniqueness of User Equilibrium in Transportation Networks with Heterogeneous Commuters," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 38(3), pages 315-330, August.
    3. Ross, Stephen L. & Yinger, John, 2000. "Timing Equilibria in an Urban Model with Congestion," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(3), pages 390-413, May.
    4. Xi Zou & David Levinson, 2006. "A Multi-Agent Congestion and Pricing Model," Working Papers 200605, University of Minnesota: Nexus Research Group.
    5. Michael Ostrovsky & Michael Schwarz, 2018. "Carpooling and the Economics of Self-Driving Cars," NBER Working Papers 24349, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. B. G. Heydecker & J. D. Addison, 2005. "Analysis of Dynamic Traffic Equilibrium with Departure Time Choice," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 39(1), pages 39-57, February.
    7. Arnott, Richard & de Palma, Andre & Lindsey, Robin, 1993. "A Structural Model of Peak-Period Congestion: A Traffic Bottleneck with Elastic Demand," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 83(1), pages 161-179, March.
    8. Verhoef, Erik T., 1999. "Time, speeds, flows and densities in static models of road traffic congestion and congestion pricing," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 341-369, May.
    9. SCHMEIDLER, David, 1973. "Equilibrium points of nonatomic games," LIDAM Reprints CORE 146, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
    10. Hofbauer, Josef & Sandholm, William H., 2007. "Evolution in games with randomly disturbed payoffs," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 132(1), pages 47-69, January.
    11. Gonzales, Eric J. & Daganzo, Carlos F., 2013. "The evening commute with cars and transit: Duality results and user equilibrium for the combined morning and evening peaks," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 286-299.
    12. Rath Kali P., 1994. "Some Refinements of Nash Equilibria of Large Games," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 7(1), pages 92-103, July.
    13. Milchtaich, Igal, 2006. "Network topology and the efficiency of equilibrium," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 57(2), pages 321-346, November.
    14. Daoli Zhu & Patrice Marcotte, 2000. "On the Existence of Solutions to the Dynamic User Equilibrium Problem," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 34(4), pages 402-414, November.
    15. Carlos F. Daganzo, 1998. "Queue Spillovers in Transportation Networks with a Route Choice," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 32(1), pages 3-11, February.
    16. Levinson, David, 2005. "Micro-foundations of congestion and pricing: A game theory perspective," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 39(7-9), pages 691-704.
    17. Xiaoning Zhang & H. Zhang, 2010. "Simultaneous Departure Time/Route Choices in Queuing Networks and a Novel Paradox," Networks and Spatial Economics, Springer, vol. 10(1), pages 93-112, March.
    18. Rath, Kali P., 1998. "Perfect and Proper Equilibria of Large Games," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 331-342, February.
    19. Fu, Haoran & Akamatsu, Takashi & Satsukawa, Koki & Wada, Kentaro, 2022. "Dynamic traffic assignment in a corridor network: Optimum versus equilibrium," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 218-246.
    20. Sandholm, William H., 2007. "Pigouvian pricing and stochastic evolutionary implementation," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 132(1), pages 367-382, January.
    21. Sandholm, William H., 2001. "Potential Games with Continuous Player Sets," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 97(1), pages 81-108, March.
    22. McMillen, Daniel P. & Smith, Stefani C., 2003. "The number of subcenters in large urban areas," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(3), pages 321-338, May.
    23. MERCHANT, Deepak K. & NEMHAUSER, George L., 1978. "A model and an algorithm for the dynamic traffic assignment problems," LIDAM Reprints CORE 346, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
    24. Han, Ke & Friesz, Terry L. & Yao, Tao, 2013. "Existence of simultaneous route and departure choice dynamic user equilibrium," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 17-30.
    25. Verhoef, Erik T., 2001. "An Integrated Dynamic Model of Road Traffic Congestion Based on Simple Car-Following Theory: Exploring Hypercongestion," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(3), pages 505-542, May.
    26. repec:cup:cbooks:9781316779309 is not listed on IDEAS
    27. Roughgarden,Tim, 2016. "Twenty Lectures on Algorithmic Game Theory," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781316624791, January.
    28. Roughgarden,Tim, 2016. "Twenty Lectures on Algorithmic Game Theory," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107172661, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Berliant, Marcus, 2024. "Daily commuting," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    2. Wen-Long Jin, 2015. "Advances in Dynamic Traffic Assgmnt: TAC," Networks and Spatial Economics, Springer, vol. 15(3), pages 617-634, September.
    3. André de Palma & Mogens Fosgerau, 2011. "Dynamic Traffic Modeling," Chapters, in: André de Palma & Robin Lindsey & Emile Quinet & Roger Vickerman (ed.), A Handbook of Transport Economics, chapter 9, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    4. Berliant, Marcus, 2011. "Repeated Commuting," MPRA Paper 28979, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Tsekeris, Theodore & Geroliminis, Nikolas, 2013. "City size, network structure and traffic congestion," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 1-14.
    6. William H. Sandholm, 2005. "Negative Externalities and Evolutionary Implementation," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 72(3), pages 885-915.
    7. Jara-Moroni, Pedro, 2018. "Rationalizability and mixed strategies in large games," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 153-156.
    8. Hideo Konishi, 2004. "Uniqueness of User Equilibrium in Transportation Networks with Heterogeneous Commuters," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 38(3), pages 315-330, August.
    9. Arnott, Richard, 2013. "A bathtub model of downtown traffic congestion," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 110-121.
    10. Satsukawa, Koki & Wada, Kentaro & Iryo, Takamasa, 2024. "Stability analysis of a departure time choice problem with atomic vehicle models," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 189(C).
    11. Bao, Yue & Verhoef, Erik T. & Koster, Paul, 2021. "Leaving the tub: The nature and dynamics of hypercongestion in a bathtub model with a restricted downstream exit," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    12. Hugo E. Silva & Robin Lindsey & André de Palma & Vincent A. C. van den Berg, 2017. "On the Existence and Uniqueness of Equilibrium in the Bottleneck Model with Atomic Users," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 51(3), pages 863-881, August.
    13. Oyama, Daisuke, 2009. "Agglomeration under forward-looking expectations: Potentials and global stability," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(6), pages 696-713, November.
    14. Otsubo, Hironori & Rapoport, Amnon, 2008. "Vickrey's model of traffic congestion discretized," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 42(10), pages 873-889, December.
    15. Luo, Shiaw-Shyan & Wang, Chung-Yung & Sung, Yi-Wei, 2018. "Time-dependent trip-chain link travel time estimation model with the first-in–first-out constraint," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 267(2), pages 415-427.
    16. Han, Ke & Friesz, Terry L. & Szeto, W.Y. & Liu, Hongcheng, 2015. "Elastic demand dynamic network user equilibrium: Formulation, existence and computation," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 81(P1), pages 183-209.
    17. Sandholm, William H., 2015. "Population Games and Deterministic Evolutionary Dynamics," Handbook of Game Theory with Economic Applications,, Elsevier.
    18. Qiao, Lei & Yu, Haomiao & Zhang, Zhixiang, 2016. "On the closed-graph property of the Nash equilibrium correspondence in a large game: A complete characterization," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 89-98.
    19. Sung-Pil Hong & Kyung Min Kim & Suk-Joon Ko, 2021. "Estimating heterogeneous agent preferences by inverse optimization in a randomized nonatomic game," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 307(1), pages 207-228, December.
    20. Frédéric Meunier & Nicolas Wagner, 2010. "Equilibrium Results for Dynamic Congestion Games," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 44(4), pages 524-536, November.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Commuting; Internet traffic; Congestion externality; Efficient Nash equilibrium; Price of anarchy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L86 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Information and Internet Services; Computer Software
    • R41 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Transportation Economics - - - Transportation: Demand, Supply, and Congestion; Travel Time; Safety and Accidents; Transportation Noise

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:123553. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Joachim Winter (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vfmunde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.