Reconsidering the Nature and Effects of Habits in Urban Transportation Behaviour

Olivier Brette, Thomas Buhler, Nathalie Lazaric and Kevin Maréchal ()
Additional contact information
Olivier Brette: INSA Lyon
Thomas Buhler: University of Franche-Comté

No 2014-10, GREDEG Working Papers from Groupe de REcherche en Droit, Economie, Gestion (GREDEG CNRS), Université Côte d'Azur, France

Abstract: This paper adds to the growing empirical evidence on the importance of habits in governing human behaviour, and sheds new light on individual inertia in relation to transportation behaviour. An enriched perspective rooted in Veblenian evolutionary economics (VEE) is used to construct a theoretical framework in order to analyse the processes at play in the formation and reinforcement of habits. The empirical study explores more specifically the synchronic processes strengthening the car-using habit. In addition to underlining the shortcomings of a ‘decision theory’ perspective to address urban transportation behaviours, we find that synchronic habits can have a significant effect on behavioural inertia. Our results suggest the existence of positive feedback between the development of synchronic habits, qualitative perceptions of driving times and reinforcement of the car-using habit. The paper points out also that the diachronic dimension of habits would constitute another promising domain for further research on behavioural inertia in transportation.

Keywords: Habit; Behaviour; Urban transportation; Mode choice; Synchronic; Diachronic (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: B52 D01 D11 D12 R40 R49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 42 pages
Date: 2014-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hme, nep-tre and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (13)

Forthcoming in Journal of Institutional Economics

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http://195.220.190.85/GREDEG-WP-2014-10.pdf First version, 2014 (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Reconsidering the nature and effects of habits in urban transportation behavior (2014)
Working Paper: Reconsidering the nature and effects of habits in urban transportation behavior (2014)
Working Paper: Reconsidering the nature and effects of habits in urban transportation behavior (2014)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gre:wpaper:2014-10

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