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Mobility and Congestion in Urban India

Author

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  • Prottoy Akbar
  • Victor Couture
  • Gilles Duranton
  • Adam Storeygard

Abstract

We develop a methodology to estimate robust city-level vehicular speed indices, exactly decomposable into uncongested speed and congestion. We apply it to 180 Indian cities using 57 million simulated trips measured by a web mapping service. We verify the reliability of our simulated trips using a number of alternative data sources, including data on actual trips. We find wide variation in speed across cities that is driven more by differences in uncongested speed than congestion. Denser and more populated cities are slower, only in part because of congestion. Urban economic development is correlated with faster speed despite worse congestion.

Suggested Citation

  • Prottoy Akbar & Victor Couture & Gilles Duranton & Adam Storeygard, 2023. "Mobility and Congestion in Urban India," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 113(4), pages 1083-1111, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:aecrev:v:113:y:2023:i:4:p:1083-1111
    DOI: 10.1257/aer.20181662
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    Cited by:

    1. Paul Blanchard & Douglas Gollin & Martina Kirchberger, 2023. "Perpetual Motion: High-Frequency Human Mobility in Three African Countries," Trinity Economics Papers tep0823, Trinity College Dublin, Department of Economics.
    2. J. Vernon Henderson & Matthew A. Turner, 2020. "Urbanization in the Developing World: Too Early or Too Slow?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 34(3), pages 150-173, Summer.
    3. Ang, Amanda & Christensen, Peter & Vieira, Renato, 2020. "Should congested cities reduce their speed limits? Evidence from São Paulo, Brazil," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    4. Albert Saiz & Luyao Wang, 2023. "Physical geography and traffic delays: Evidence from a major coastal city," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 50(1), pages 218-243, September.
    5. Kala Seetharam Sridhar & Shivakumar Nayka, 2022. "Determinants of Commute Time in an Indian City," Margin: The Journal of Applied Economic Research, National Council of Applied Economic Research, vol. 16(1), pages 49-75, February.
    6. Gallé, Johannes, 2023. "City Shape and Air Pollution," Ruhr Economic Papers 1012, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    7. Gilles Duranton & Geetika Nagpal & Matthew A. Turner, 2020. "Transportation Infrastructure in the US," NBER Chapters, in: Economic Analysis and Infrastructure Investment, pages 165-210, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Panle Jia Barwick & Yanyan Liu & Eleonora Patacchini & Qi Wu, 2019. "Information, Mobile Communication, and Referral Effects," NBER Working Papers 25873, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Maria Bas & Ana Margarida Fernandes & Caroline Paunov, 2022. "How Resilient Was Trade to Covid-19?," CESifo Working Paper Series 9652, CESifo.
    10. Yizhen Gu & Chang Jiang & Junfu Zhang & Ben Zou, 2021. "Subways and Road Congestion," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 13(2), pages 83-115, April.
    11. Henderson, J. Vernon & Nigmatulina, Dzhamilya & Kriticos, Sebastian, 2021. "Measuring urban economic density," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    12. Antonio Bento & Kevin Roth & Andrew R. Waxman, 2020. "The Value of Urgency: Evidence from Real-Time Congestion Pricing," NBER Working Papers 26956, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Liotta, Charlotte & Viguié, Vincent & Lepetit, Quentin, 2022. "Testing the monocentric standard urban model in a global sample of cities," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    14. Cong Peng, 2019. "Does e-commerce reduce traffic congestion? Evidence from Alibaba Single Day shopping event," CEP Discussion Papers dp1646, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    15. Kirchberger, Martina, 2021. "Measuring internal migration," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    16. Brooks, Leah & Denoeux, Genevieve, 2022. "What if you build it and they don't come? How the ghost of transit past haunts transit present," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    17. Delventhal, Matthew J. & Kwon, Eunjee & Parkhomenko, Andrii, 2022. "JUE Insight: How do cities change when we work from home?," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    18. García-Suaza, Andres & Varela, Daniela, 2024. "Nightlight, landcover and buildings: understanding intracity socioeconomic differences," Documentos de Trabajo 21025, Universidad del Rosario.
    19. Peng, Cong, 2019. "Does e-commerce reduce traffic congestion? Evidence from Alibaba Single Day shopping event," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 103411, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    20. Santonab Chakraborty & Sayantan Ghosh & Subham Agarwal & Shankar Chakraborty, 2021. "An integrated performance evaluation approach for the Indian smart cities," OPSEARCH, Springer;Operational Research Society of India, vol. 58(4), pages 906-941, December.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
    • O18 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Urban, Rural, Regional, and Transportation Analysis; Housing; Infrastructure
    • R23 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population
    • R41 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Transportation Economics - - - Transportation: Demand, Supply, and Congestion; Travel Time; Safety and Accidents; Transportation Noise

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