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Going Fast or Going Green? Evidence from Environmental Speed Limits in Norway

Author

Listed:
  • Folgerø, Ingrid Kristine

    (Dept. of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration)

  • Harding, Torfinn

    (Dept. of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration)

  • Westby, Benjamin

    (Dept. of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration)

Abstract

This paper studies the impact of speed limits on local air pollution, using a series of datespecific speed limit reductions in Oslo over the 2004-2015 period. We find that lowering the speed limit from 80 to 60 km/h reduces travel speed by 5.8 km/h, but we find no effect on local air pollution. A conservative cost–benefit calculation suggests a net social loss from the speed limit reductions of 0.52 billion USD each year. Our findings imply that policy makers need to consider other actions than speed limit reductions to improve local air quality.

Suggested Citation

  • Folgerø, Ingrid Kristine & Harding, Torfinn & Westby, Benjamin, 2017. "Going Fast or Going Green? Evidence from Environmental Speed Limits in Norway," Discussion Paper Series in Economics 12/2017, Norwegian School of Economics, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:nhheco:2017_012
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. 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).
    2. Thiedig, Johannes, 2018. "An economic cost-benefit analysis of a general speed limit on German highways," Discussion Papers 2018/17, Free University Berlin, School of Business & Economics.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Temporary speed limit; air pollution; travel time; cost-benefit; regression discontinuity design;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H23 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies
    • Q53 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Air Pollution; Water Pollution; Noise; Hazardous Waste; Solid Waste; Recycling
    • Q58 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environmental Economics: Government Policy
    • 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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