Commuting, Labor, and Housing Market Effects of Mass Transportation: Welfare and Identification

Christopher Severen

The Review of Economics and Statistics, 2023, vol. 105, issue 5, 1073-1091

Abstract: I study Los Angeles Metro Rail's effects using panel data on bilateral commuting flows, a quantitative spatial model, and historically motivated quasi-experimental research designs. The model separates transit's commuting effects from local productivity or amenity effects, and spatial shift-share instruments identify inelastic labor and housing supply. Metro Rail connections increase commuting by 16% but do not have large effects on local productivity or amenities. Metro Rail generates $94 million in annual benefits by 2000 or 12–25% of annualized costs. Accounting for reduced congestion and slow transit adoption adds, at most, another $200 million in annual benefits.

Date: 2023
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Working Paper: Commuting, Labor, and Housing Market Effects of Mass Transportation: Welfare and Identification (2018)
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