Estimating welfare effects of congestion charges in real world settings

Maria Börjesson () and Ida Kristoffersson
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Maria Börjesson: KTH, Postal: Centrum för Transportstudier (CTS), Teknikringen 10, 100 44 Stockholm, Sweden
Ida Kristoffersson: KTH, Postal: Centrum för Transportstudier (CTS), Teknikringen 10, 100 44 Stockholm, Sweden

No 2012:13, Working papers in Transport Economics from CTS - Centre for Transport Studies Stockholm (KTH and VTI)

Abstract: According to the standard textbook analysis, drivers as a group will be worse off with congestion charging if not compensated by revenues. This result is confirmed by an analysis of the Stockholm congestion charging scheme using a static model with homogeneous users. However, both this static model and the standard textbook analysis omit three important factors: taste heterogeneity, effects of charges on the larger network arising from less blocking back of upstream links and the possibility for drivers to reschedule. Taking account of these factors, using a dynamic scheduling model with heterogeneous users estimated and calibrated for Stockholm, we find that drivers as a group benefit from the charging scheme in Stockholm without recycling of revenues. This paper further investigates the importance of the three mentioned factors. We find that all three factors add significantly to the benefit of the charges and that the most important is heterogeneity in the value of travel time savings. This paper also provides an update on the consumer benefits of the Stockholm charges.

Keywords: Congestion charges; Road pricing; Acceptability; Evaluation; Urban transport policy; Transport externalities (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C25 D61 J22 R41 R42 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 31 pages
Date: 2012-05-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-for, nep-tre, nep-tur and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hhs:ctswps:2012_013

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