IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/tse/wpaper/25766.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Pricing of Transport Networks, Redistribution and Optimal Taxation

Author

Listed:
  • Russo, Antonio

Abstract

We study optimal pricing of roads and public transport in presence of nonlinear in- come taxation. Individuals are heterogeneous in unobservable earning ability. Optimal transport tarifs depend on time costs of travel and work schedule adjustments (days and hours worked per day) as a response to commuting costs. We find that discounts for low income individuals are optimal only if the time cost of a trip is small enough. Lower travel time costs facilitate screening: therefore, redistribution provides an additional motive for congestion pricing. Finally, we investigate the desirability of means-testing of transport tarifs.

Suggested Citation

  • Russo, Antonio, 2012. "Pricing of Transport Networks, Redistribution and Optimal Taxation," TSE Working Papers 12-353, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE).
  • Handle: RePEc:tse:wpaper:25766
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.tse-fr.eu/sites/default/files/medias/doc/wp/pe/wp_tse_353.pdf
    File Function: Full text
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Inge Mayeres & Stef Proost, 1997. "Optimal Tax and Public Investment Rules for Congestion Type of Externalities," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 99(2), pages 261-279, June.
    2. Ian W. H. Parry & Antonio Bento, 2001. "Revenue Recycling and the Welfare Effects of Road Pricing," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 103(4), pages 645-671, December.
    3. De Borger, Bruno & Wuyts, Bart, 2011. "The structure of the labor market, telecommuting, and optimal peak period congestion tolls: A numerical optimization model," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(5), pages 426-438, September.
    4. Bovenberg, A. Lans & Goulder, Lawrence H., 2002. "Environmental taxation and regulation," Handbook of Public Economics, in: A. J. Auerbach & M. Feldstein (ed.), Handbook of Public Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 23, pages 1471-1545, Elsevier.
    5. Gutiérrez-i-Puigarnau, Eva & van Ommeren, Jos N., 2010. "Labour supply and commuting," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 82-89, July.
    6. Boadway, Robin & Keen, Michael, 1993. "Public Goods, Self-Selection and Optimal Income Taxation," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 34(3), pages 463-478, August.
    7. Louis Kaplow, 2006. "Optimal Control of Externalities in the Presence of Income Taxation," NBER Working Papers 12339, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Tomás Serebrisky & Andrés Gómez‐Lobo & Nicolás Estupiñán & Ramón Muñoz‐Raskin, 2009. "Affordability and Subsidies in Public Urban Transport: What Do We Mean, What Can Be Done?," Transport Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(6), pages 715-739, January.
    9. Boadway, Robin & Gahvari, Firouz, 2006. "Optimal taxation with consumption time as a leisure or labor substitute," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(10-11), pages 1851-1878, November.
    10. Wang, Judith Y.T. & Lindsey, Robin & Yang, Hai, 2011. "Nonlinear pricing on private roads with congestion and toll collection costs," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 45(1), pages 9-40, January.
    11. Batarce, Marco & Ivaldi, Marc, 2010. "Travel Demand Model with Heterogeneous Users and Endogenous Congestion: An application to optimal pricing of bus services," IDEI Working Papers 659, Institut d'Économie Industrielle (IDEI), Toulouse, revised Apr 2011.
    12. Claus Thustrup Kreiner & Nicolaj Verdelin, 2012. "Optimal Provision of Public Goods: A Synthesis," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 114(2), pages 384-408, June.
    13. Atkinson, A. B. & Stiglitz, J. E., 1976. "The design of tax structure: Direct versus indirect taxation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 6(1-2), pages 55-75.
    14. Daniel S. Hamermesh, 1996. "Workdays, Workhours, and Work Schedules: Evidence for the United States and Germany," Books from Upjohn Press, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, number www, August.
    15. Cremer, Helmuth & Gahvari, Firouz, 2002. "Nonlinear Pricing, Redistribution, and Optimal Tax Policy," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 4(2), pages 139-161.
    16. Helmuth Cremer & Firouz Gahvari, 2002. "Nonlinear Pricing, Redistribution, and Optimal Tax Policy," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 4(2), pages 139-161, April.
    17. Firouz Gahvari, 2007. "On Optimal Commodity Taxes When Consumption Is Time Consuming," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 9(1), pages 1-27, February.
    18. Jukka Pirttilä & Matti Tuomala, 1997. "Income Tax, Commodity Tax and Environmental Policy," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 4(3), pages 379-393, July.
    19. Helmuth Cremer & Firouz Gahvari & Norbert Ladoux, 2002. "Externalities and Optimal Taxation," Chapters, in: Lawrence H. Goulder (ed.), Environmental Policy Making in Economies with Prior Tax Distortions, chapter 14, pages 210-232, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    20. Arnott, Richard & de Palma, Andre & Lindsey, Robin, 1993. "A Structural Model of Peak-Period Congestion: A Traffic Bottleneck with Elastic Demand," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 83(1), pages 161-179, March.
    21. Mayeres, Inge & Proost, Stef, 1997. " Optimal Tax and Public Investment Rules for Congestion Type of Externalities," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 99(2), pages 261-279, June.
    22. Kurt Van Dender, 2003. "Transport Taxes with Multiple Trip Purposes," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 105(2), pages 295-310, June.
    23. Stiglitz, Joseph E., 1982. "Self-selection and Pareto efficient taxation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 213-240, March.
    24. Borger, Bruno De, 2011. "Optimal congestion taxes in a time allocation model," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 45(1), pages 79-95, January.
    25. Parry, Ian W H & Bento, Antonio, 2001. " Revenue Recycling and the Welfare Effects of Road Pricing," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 103(4), pages 645-671, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. David Martimort & Jérôme Pouyet & Carine Staropoli, 2020. "Use and abuse of regulated prices in electricity markets: “How to regulate regulated prices?”," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(3), pages 605-634, July.
    2. Chiara Canta & Marie-Louise Leroux, 2016. "Public and Private Hospitals, Congestion, and Redistribution," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 18(1), pages 42-66, February.
    3. Pavón, Nicolás & Rizzi, Luis Ignacio, 2019. "Road infrastructure and public bus transport service provision under different funding schemes: A simulation analysis," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 89-105.
    4. Vladimír Ľupták & Paweł Droździel & Ondrej Stopka & Mária Stopková & Iwona Rybicka, 2019. "Approach Methodology for Comprehensive Assessing the Public Passenger Transport Timetable Performances at a Regional Scale," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(13), pages 1-18, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Borger, Bruno De, 2011. "Optimal congestion taxes in a time allocation model," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 45(1), pages 79-95, January.
    2. Hirte, Georg & Tscharaktschiew, Stefan, 2018. "The impact of anti-congestion policies and the role of labor-supply margins," CEPIE Working Papers 04/18, Technische Universität Dresden, Center of Public and International Economics (CEPIE).
    3. Hirte, Georg & Tscharaktschiew, Stefan, 2020. "The role of labor-supply margins in shaping optimal transport taxes," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 22(C).
    4. Cremer, Helmuth & Gahvari, Firouz & Ladoux, Norbert, 2003. "Environmental taxes with heterogeneous consumers: an application to energy consumption in France," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(12), pages 2791-2815, December.
    5. De Borger, Bruno, 2009. "Commuting, congestion tolls and the structure of the labour market: Optimal congestion pricing in a wage bargaining model," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(4), pages 434-448, July.
    6. De Borger, Bruno & Mayeres, Inge, 2007. "Optimal taxation of car ownership, car use and public transport: Insights derived from a discrete choice numerical optimization model," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(5), pages 1177-1204, July.
    7. Diaz, A. & Proost, S., 2014. "Second-best urban tolling with distributive concerns," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 257-269.
    8. Vandyck, Toon & Rutherford, Thomas F., 2018. "Regional labor markets, commuting, and the economic impact of road pricing," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 217-236.
    9. Edward Calthrop, 2001. "On Subsidising Auto-Commuting," CESifo Working Paper Series 566, CESifo.
    10. Hörcher, Daniel & De Borger, Bruno & Seifu, Woubit & Graham, Daniel J., 2020. "Public transport provision under agglomeration economies," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    11. Proost, Stef & Dender, Kurt Van, 2008. "Optimal urban transport pricing in the presence of congestion, economies of density and costly public funds," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 42(9), pages 1220-1230, November.
    12. De Borger, Bruno & Van Dender, Kurt, 2003. "Transport tax reform, commuting, and endogenous values of time," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(3), pages 510-530, May.
    13. A. Bovenberg, 1999. "Green Tax Reforms and the Double Dividend: an Updated Reader's Guide," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 6(3), pages 421-443, August.
    14. Gutiérrez-i-Puigarnau, Eva & van Ommeren, Jos N., 2010. "Labour supply and commuting," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 82-89, July.
    15. Robson, Edward N. & Wijayaratna, Kasun P. & Dixit, Vinayak V., 2018. "A review of computable general equilibrium models for transport and their applications in appraisal," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 31-53.
    16. Mayeres, Inge & Proost, Stef & Dender, Kurt Van, 2005. "The Impacts of Marginal Social Cost Pricing," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(1), pages 211-243, January.
    17. David Martimort & Jérôme Pouyet & Carine Staropoli, 2020. "Use and abuse of regulated prices in electricity markets: “How to regulate regulated prices?”," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(3), pages 605-634, July.
    18. Janet Currie & Firouz Gahvari, 2008. "Transfers in Cash and In-Kind: Theory Meets the Data," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 46(2), pages 333-383, June.
    19. Eva Gutierrez-i-Puigarnau & Jos van Ommeren, 2009. "Labour Supply and Commuting: Implications for Optimal Road Taxes," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 09-008/3, Tinbergen Institute.
    20. Spencer Bastani & Sören Blomquist & Luca Micheletto, 2020. "Pareto efficient income taxation without single-crossing," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 55(3), pages 547-594, October.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    road pricing; public transport pricing; income taxation; meanstesting;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H21 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Efficiency; Optimal Taxation
    • H23 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies
    • R41 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Transportation Economics - - - Transportation: Demand, Supply, and Congestion; Travel Time; Safety and Accidents; Transportation Noise

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:tse:wpaper:25766. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/tsetofr.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.