IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/sgo/wpaper/2402.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Pigouvian Congestion Tolls and the Welfare Gain: Estimates for California Freeways

Author

Listed:
  • Jinwon Kim

    (Department of Economics, Sogang University, Seoul, Korea)

  • Jucheol Moon

    (Department of Computer Engineering & Computer Science, California State University, Long Beach)

  • Dongyun Yang

    (Department of Economics, The University of Texas, Austin)

Abstract

This paper quanti_es the optimal Pigouvian congestion tolls imposed on California freeway users and the associated welfare gains by estimating the technological supply relationship of roads and the time-cost elasticity of demand using novel identi_cation strategies and big data. Based on our estimates, we suggest that the optimal congestion tolls are around 10-16 cents per vehicle mile under moderate congestion and 25-114 cents under severe congestion, with the amounts varying by freeway depending on road capacity and tra_c demand size. We calculate that the welfare bene_ts from the tolling are typically around USD 20 per lane-mile of road and hour. Under a plausible scenario, the optimal tolls charged on congested freeways in California yield annual aggregate bene_ts of up to USD 1.8 billion.

Suggested Citation

  • Jinwon Kim & Jucheol Moon & Dongyun Yang, 2024. "Pigouvian Congestion Tolls and the Welfare Gain: Estimates for California Freeways," Working Papers 2402, Nam Duck-Woo Economic Research Institute, Sogang University (Former Research Institute for Market Economy).
    • Handle: RePEc:sgo:wpaper:2402
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://zrr.kr/wTgR
    File Function: First version, 2024
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jinwon Kim & Jucheol Moon, 2024. "Congestion and scheduling preferences of car commuters in California: estimates using big data," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 24(1), pages 145-170.
    2. Christopher R. Knittel & Ryan Sandler, 2018. "The Welfare Impact of Second-Best Uniform-Pigouvian Taxation: Evidence from Transportation," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 10(4), pages 211-242, November.
    3. Anderson, Michael L. & Davis, Lucas W., 2020. "An empirical test of hypercongestion in highway bottlenecks," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).
    4. Kenneth A. Small & Kurt Van Dender, 2007. "Fuel Efficiency and Motor Vehicle Travel: The Declining Rebound Effect," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 1), pages 25-52.
    5. Tarduno, Matthew, 2021. "The congestion costs of Uber and Lyft," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 122(C).
    6. Michael L. Anderson, 2014. "Subways, Strikes, and Slowdowns: The Impacts of Public Transit on Traffic Congestion," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(9), pages 2763-2796, September.
    7. Jan K. Brueckner & Matthew E. Kahn & Gary C. Lin, 2023. "A New Spatial Hedonic Equilibrium in the Emerging Work-from-Home Economy?," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 15(2), pages 285-319, April.
    8. Dingel, Jonathan I. & Neiman, Brent, 2020. "How many jobs can be done at home?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 189(C).
    9. De Borger, Bruno & Proost, Stef, 2012. "A political economy model of road pricing," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(1), pages 79-92.
    10. Chen, Chao, 2003. "Freeway Performance Measurement System (PeMS)," Institute of Transportation Studies, Research Reports, Working Papers, Proceedings qt6j93p90t, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Berkeley.
    11. Gilles Duranton & Matthew A. Turner, 2011. "The Fundamental Law of Road Congestion: Evidence from US Cities," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(6), pages 2616-2652, October.
    12. Treb Allen & Costas Arkolakis, 2022. "The Welfare Effects of Transportation Infrastructure Improvements," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 89(6), pages 2911-2957.
    13. Jeffrey M Wooldridge, 2010. "Econometric Analysis of Cross Section and Panel Data," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 2, volume 1, number 0262232588, December.
    14. Antonio M. Bento & Lawrence H. Goulder & Mark R. Jacobsen & Roger H. von Haefen, 2009. "Distributional and Efficiency Impacts of Increased US Gasoline Taxes," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(3), pages 667-699, June.
    15. Brueckner, Jan K., 2011. "Lectures on Urban Economics," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262016362, December.
    16. Ioulia V Ossokina & Jos van Ommeren & Henk van Mourik, 2023. "Do highway widenings reduce congestion?," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 23(4), pages 871-900.
    17. Button, Kenneth, 2020. "The Transition From Pigou’S Ideas On Road Pricing To Their Application," Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Cambridge University Press, vol. 42(3), pages 417-438, September.
    18. Tang, Cheng Keat, 2021. "The Cost of Traffic: Evidence from the London Congestion Charge," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    19. Hsu, Wen-Tai & Zhang, Hongliang, 2014. "The fundamental law of highway congestion revisited: Evidence from national expressways in Japan," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 65-76.
    20. Arnott, Richard & de Palma, Andre & Lindsey, Robin, 1990. "Economics of a bottleneck," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 111-130, January.
    21. Ioulia V Ossokina & Jos van Ommeren & Henk van Mourik, 2023. "Do highway widenings reduce congestion?," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 23(4), pages 871-900.
    22. Leah Brooks & Zachary Liscow, 2023. "Infrastructure Costs," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 15(2), pages 1-30, April.
    23. Jonathan D Hall, 2021. "Can Tolling Help Everyone? Estimating the Aggregate and Distributional Consequences of Congestion Pricing," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 19(1), pages 441-474.
    24. Dewees, Donald N, 1979. "Estimating the Time Costs of Highway Congestion," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 47(6), pages 1499-1512, November.
    25. Akbar, Prottoy & Duranton, Gilles, 2017. "Measuring the Cost of Congestion in Highly Congested City: Bogotá," Research Department working papers 1028, CAF Development Bank Of Latinamerica.
    26. Kim, Jinwon, 2019. "Estimating the social cost of congestion using the bottleneck model," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 19(C), pages 1-1.
    27. Keeler, Theodore E & Small, Kenneth A, 1977. "Optimal Peak-Load Pricing, Investment, and Service Levels on Urban Expressways," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 85(1), pages 1-25, February.
    28. Zachary Liscow & Will Nober & Cailin Slattery, 2023. "Procurement and Infrastructure Costs," NBER Working Papers 31705, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    29. Kim, Jinwon, 2022. "Does roadwork improve road speed? Evidence from urban freeways in California," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    30. Durrmeyer, Isis & Martinez, Nicolas, 2022. "The Welfare Consequences of Urban Traffic Regulations," TSE Working Papers 22-1378, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE), revised Dec 2024.
    31. Jun Yang & Avralt-Od Purevjav & Shanjun Li, 2020. "The Marginal Cost of Traffic Congestion and Road Pricing: Evidence from a Natural Experiment in Beijing," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 12(1), pages 418-453, February.
    32. Gabriel Kreindler, 2023. "Peak-Hour Road Congestion Pricing: Experimental Evidence and Equilibrium Implications," NBER Working Papers 30903, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    33. Boardman, Anthony E. & Lave, Lester B., 1977. "Highway congestion and congestion tolls," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 4(3), pages 340-359, July.
    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. Kim, Jinwon, 2022. "Does roadwork improve road speed? Evidence from urban freeways in California," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    2. Russo, Antonio & Adler, Martin W. & Liberini, Federica & van Ommeren, Jos N., 2021. "Welfare losses of road congestion: Evidence from Rome," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    3. Jinwon Kim & Jucheol Moon, 2022. "Congestion Costs and Scheduling Preferences of Car Commuters in California: Estimates Using Big Data," Working Papers 2201, Nam Duck-Woo Economic Research Institute, Sogang University (Former Research Institute for Market Economy).
    4. Herzog, Ian, 2024. "Microgeographic speed, reliability, and traffic externalities," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 39(C).
    5. Ioulia V Ossokina & Jos van Ommeren & Henk van Mourik, 2023. "Do highway widenings reduce congestion?," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 23(4), pages 871-900.
    6. Durrmeyer, Isis & Martinez, Nicolas, 2022. "The Welfare Consequences of Urban Traffic Regulations," TSE Working Papers 22-1378, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE), revised Dec 2024.
    7. Ioulia V Ossokina & Jos van Ommeren & Henk van Mourik, 2023. "Do highway widenings reduce congestion?," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 23(4), pages 871-900.
    8. Anderson, Michael L. & Davis, Lucas W., 2020. "An empirical test of hypercongestion in highway bottlenecks," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).
    9. Kim, Jinwon, 2019. "Estimating the social cost of congestion using the bottleneck model," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 19(C), pages 1-1.
    10. Mehrotra, Neil & Turner, Matthew A. & Uribe, Juan Pablo, 2024. "Does the US have an infrastructure cost problem? Evidence from the interstate highway system," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    11. Zhi (Aaron) Cheng & Min-Seok Pang & Paul A. Pavlou, 2020. "Mitigating Traffic Congestion: The Role of Intelligent Transportation Systems," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 31(3), pages 653-674, September.
    12. Jindong Pang & Shulin Shen, 2023. "Do ridesharing services cause traffic congestion?," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 56(2), pages 520-552, May.
    13. Gillingham, Kenneth & Munk-Nielsen, Anders, 2019. "A tale of two tails: Commuting and the fuel price response in driving," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 27-40.
    14. Antonio Russo & Martin W. Adler & Federica Liberini & Jos N. van Ommeren, 2019. "Welfare Losses of Road Congestion," CESifo Working Paper Series 7693, CESifo.
    15. Anas, Alex, 2024. "“Downs's Law” under the lens of theory: Roads lower congestion and increase distance traveled," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    16. Nicolas Gendron-Carrier & Marco Gonzalez-Navarro & Stefano Polloni & Matthew A. Turner, 2022. "Subways and Urban Air Pollution," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 14(1), pages 164-196, January.
    17. Proost, Stef & Van Dender, Kurt, 2012. "Energy and environment challenges in the transport sector," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 1(1), pages 77-87.
    18. Miquel-Àngel Garcia-López & Ilias Pasidis & Elisabet Viladecans-Marsal, 2022. "Congestion in highways when tolls and railroads matter: evidence from European cities [The congestion relief benefit of public transit: evidence from Rome]," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 22(5), pages 931-960.
    19. Tscharaktschiew, Stefan & Reimann, Felix, 2021. "On employer-paid parking and parking (cash-out) policy: A formal synthesis of different perspectives," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 499-516.
    20. Hamilton, Timothy L. & Wichman, Casey J., 2018. "Bicycle infrastructure and traffic congestion: Evidence from DC's Capital Bikeshare," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 72-93.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Pigouvian tax; congestion externality; California freeway; quasi experiment; instrumental variable; big data;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • R41 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Transportation Economics - - - Transportation: Demand, Supply, and Congestion; Travel Time; Safety and Accidents; Transportation Noise
    • H23 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies
    • Q59 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Other

    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:sgo:wpaper:2402. 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: Jung Hur (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/risogkr.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.