 Rationing can backfire: the day without a car in Mexico CityGunnar Eskeland and Tarhan Feyzioglu No 1554, Policy Research Working Paper Series from The World Bank Abstract: In November 1989, Mexico City's administration imposed a regulation banning each car from driving on a specific day of the week. The regulation has been both popular and controversial. Some feel that it is a reasonable concession aimed at alleviating congestion and pollution problems. Others feel it is both inefficient and unfair: inefficient in the way most rationing systems are inefficent, and unfair in that it is costly to some and easily avoided or accommodated by others. Some feel that it may also be so inefficient that it is counterproductive. The authors found evidence to support that view. Many households bought an additional car to get additional driving permits, and the amount of driving increased. Greater use of old cars and increased weekend driving may have contributed to the disappointing results of Mexico's one-day ban on driving: high welfare costs and none of the intended benefits. Keywords: Roads&Highways; Economic Theory&Research; Environmental Economics&Policies; Financial Crisis Management&Restructuring; Country Strategy&Performance; Economic Theory&Research; Environmental Economics&Policies; Roads&Highways; Financial Crisis Management&Restructuring; Transport and Environment (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:1554 Access Statistics for this paper More papers in Policy Research Working Paper Series from The World Bank 1818 H Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20433. Contact information at EDIRC. |
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