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Green commuting and gasoline taxes in the United States

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  • Giménez-Nadal, J. Ignacio
  • Molina, José Alberto

Abstract

This paper analyzes how gasoline tax rates are related to the time workers in the United States spend commuting by private car, public transport, or with other physical modes of transport. Our identification strategy relies on both inter-state differences and time variations in gasoline taxes. Using the American Time Use Surveys for the years 2003–2015, we find that higher gasoline tax rates are related to less time spent in commuting. Furthermore, higher gasoline taxes are related to less commuting by private car, and more commuting by public transport and/or a physical mode of transport (walking or cycling). Our results highlight the importance of gasoline taxes in the consumption of energy for personal transport, as higher gasoline taxes are related to a greater use of “green” modes of transport, showing that fuel taxes are important for good environmental management.

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  • Giménez-Nadal, J. Ignacio & Molina, José Alberto, 2019. "Green commuting and gasoline taxes in the United States," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 324-331.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:132:y:2019:i:c:p:324-331
    DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2019.05.048
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Commuting time; Public transport; Walking/cycling; Gasoline taxes;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D1 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior
    • Q4 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy
    • R4 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Transportation Economics

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