Is Ride-sharing Good for Environment?

Yoshifumi Konishi and Akari Ono
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Akari Ono: Keio University

No 2024-014, Keio-IES Discussion Paper Series from Institute for Economics Studies, Keio University

Abstract: We estimate the causal effect of ride-hailing entry on transport-related air pollution in U.S. cities, using granular satellite-based NO? concentration data in the staggered difference-in-differences research design. Our empirical strategy accounts for treatment effect heterogeneity both within and across cities, coupled with two additional strategies to strengthen identification: using geography-based instruments and exploiting a sharp, unanticipated change in ride-hailing activity in Austin due to its rule change. We find robust evidence that ride-hailing tends to improve air quality in highly dense cities, but has no significant impact in cities with low and medium density. We also find evidence that the NO? reduction in highly dense cities is associated with a decrease in private car use and an increase in public transit use. Taken together, our findings suggest that the environmental effect of ride-hailing depends on the complementarity between ride-hailing and public transit: While ride-hailing may increase congestion by inducing deadheading or displacing of mass transit for parts of daily trips, it may still decrease overall air pollution if a combined use of ride-hailing with other transit displaces private car use more than such adverse behavior.

Keywords: Air pollution; congestion; commuting choice; staggered difference-indifferences; instrumental variable; ride-hailing; ride-sharing; transportation and environment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L91 Q53 R11 R4 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 60 pages
Date: 2024-06-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ene, nep-env, nep-res, nep-tre and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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