IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/trapol/v100y2021icp161-171.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The rich and mobility: A new look into the impacts of income inequality on household transport expenditures

Author

Listed:
  • Valenzuela-Levi, Nicolás

Abstract

An increasing interest in transport affordability has brought attention to the factors driving household transport expenditure. Existent income inequality is part of what drives this interest. However, the possible causal link between income distribution and household transport expenditure is scarcely studied in the literature. In addition, the few existing studies only focus on post-tax income distribution. This paper provides the first known analysis that includes both pre-tax and post-tax income distribution, and a specific focus on the richest one percent. Random effects regressions and instrumental variables are used to analyse panel data covering 14 OECD countries during the 1992–2016 period. Inequality has an effect on overall household transport expenditure, and more specifically on purchase of vehicles and operation of private transport equipment. The pre-tax share of the rich increases overall expenditure on purchases of new private vehicles, with a decreasing effect when market inequality is high. The post-tax share of the poor has an effect on operation of transport equipment, but the sign of this effect depends on the existent level of post-tax inequality.

Suggested Citation

  • Valenzuela-Levi, Nicolás, 2021. "The rich and mobility: A new look into the impacts of income inequality on household transport expenditures," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 161-171.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:trapol:v:100:y:2021:i:c:p:161-171
    DOI: 10.1016/j.tranpol.2020.10.002
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0967070X2030901X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.tranpol.2020.10.002?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Berri, Akli & Vincent Lyk-Jensen, Stéphanie & Mulalic, Ismir & Zachariadis, Theodoros, 2014. "Household transport consumption inequalities and redistributive effects of taxes: A repeated cross-sectional evaluation for France, Denmark and Cyprus," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 206-216.
    2. Anthony B. Atkinson & Thomas Piketty & Emmanuel Saez, 2011. "Top Incomes in the Long Run of History," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 49(1), pages 3-71, March.
    3. Storchmann, Karl, 2005. "Long-Run Gasoline demand for passenger cars: the role of income distribution," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 25-58, January.
    4. Easterly, William, 2007. "Inequality does cause underdevelopment: Insights from a new instrument," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(2), pages 755-776, November.
    5. Birgit Aigner-Walder & Thomas Döring, 2012. "The Effects of Population Ageing on Private Consumption — A Simulation for Austria Based on Household Data up to 2050," Eurasian Economic Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 2(1), pages 63-80, June.
    6. Giulio Mattioli & Jean-Pierre Nicolas & Carsten Gertz, 2018. "Editorial - Household transport costs, economic stress and energy vulnerability," Post-Print halshs-01672810, HAL.
    7. Lourdes Diaz Olvera & Didier Plat & Pascal Pochet, 2008. "Household transport expenditure in Sub-Saharan African cities: measurement and analysis," Post-Print halshs-00264231, HAL.
    8. François Lescaroux, 2010. "Car Ownership in Relation to Income Distribution and Consumers' Spending Decisions," Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, University of Bath, vol. 44(2), pages 207-230, May.
    9. Diaz Olvera, Lourdes & Plat, Didier & Pochet, Pascal, 2013. "The puzzle of mobility and access to the city in Sub-Saharan Africa," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 56-64.
    10. Thomas Piketty & Emmanuel Saez, 2003. "Income Inequality in the United States, 1913–1998," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 118(1), pages 1-41.
    11. Berri, Akli & Vincent Lyk-Jensen, Stéphanie & Mulalic, Ismir & Zachariadis, Theodoros, 2014. "Household transport consumption inequalities and redistributive effects of taxes: A repeated cross-sectional evaluation for France, Denmark and Cyprus," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 206-216.
    12. Gandelman, Néstor & Serebrisky, Tomás & Suárez-Alemán, Ancor, 2019. "Household spending on transport in Latin America and the Caribbean: A dimension of transport affordability in the region," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 1-1.
    13. Lane Kenworthy & Jonas Pontusson, 2005. "Rising Inequality and the Politics of Redistribution in Affluent Countries," LIS Working papers 400, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    14. Lourdes Diaz Olvera & Didier Plat & Pascal Pochet, 2013. "The puzzle of mobility and access to the city in Sub-Saharan Africa," Post-Print halshs-00861105, HAL.
    15. Diaz Olvera, Lourdes & Plat, Didier & Pochet, Pascal, 2008. "Household transport expenditure in Sub-Saharan African cities: measurement and analysis," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 16(1), pages 1-13.
    16. Wooldridge, Jeffrey M., 1997. "On two stage least squares estimation of the average treatment effect in a random coefficient model," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 56(2), pages 129-133, October.
    17. Li, Tiebei & Dodson, Jago & Sipe, Neil, 2015. "Differentiating metropolitan transport disadvantage by mode: Household expenditure on private vehicle fuel and public transport fares in Brisbane, Australia," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 16-25.
    18. Zucman, Gabriel & Fagan, Teresa Lavender & Piketty, Thomas, 2015. "The Hidden Wealth of Nations," University of Chicago Press Economics Books, University of Chicago Press, number 9780226245423, Febrero.
    19. Palma, J.G., 2011. "Homogeneous middles vs. heterogeneous tails, and the end of the ‘Inverted-U’: the share of the rich is what it's all about," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 1111, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    20. Furceri, Davide & Loungani, Prakash & Zdzienicka, Aleksandra, 2018. "The effects of monetary policy shocks on inequality," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 168-186.
    21. José Gabriel Palma, 2014. "Has the Income Share of the Middle and Upper-middle Been Stable around the ‘50/50 Rule’, or Has it Converged towards that Level? The ‘Palma Ratio’ Revisited," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 45(6), pages 1416-1448, November.
    22. Falavigna, Claudio & Hernandez, Diego, 2016. "Assessing inequalities on public transport affordability in two latin American cities: Montevideo (Uruguay) and Córdoba (Argentina)," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 145-155.
    23. Jennifer Day & Robert Cervero, 2010. "Effects of Residential Relocation on Household and Commuting Expenditures in Shanghai, China," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(4), pages 762-788, December.
    24. Alex Cobham & Lukas Schlögl & Andy Sumner, 2016. "Inequality and the Tails: the Palma Proposition and Ratio," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 7(1), pages 25-36, February.
    25. Bris, Myriam & Pawlak, Jacek & Polak, John W., 2017. "How is ICT use linked to household transport expenditure? A cross-national macro analysis of the influence of home broadband access," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 231-242.
    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. Rayane AL AMIR DACHE & Nicolas COULOMBEL, 2024. "How unequal are travel costs? Evidence from the Paris Region," Region et Developpement, Region et Developpement, LEAD, Universite du Sud - Toulon Var, vol. 59, pages 11-32.
    2. Valenzuela-Levi, Nicolás, 2023. "Income inequality and rule-systems within public transport: A study of Medellín (Colombia) and Santiago (Chile)," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    3. Xi, Haoning & Li, Qin & Hensher, David A. & Nelson, John D. & Ho, Chinh, 2023. "Quantifying the impact of COVID-19 on travel behavior in different socio-economic segments," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 98-112.

    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. Falavigna, Claudio & Hernandez, Diego, 2016. "Assessing inequalities on public transport affordability in two latin American cities: Montevideo (Uruguay) and Córdoba (Argentina)," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 145-155.
    2. Valenzuela-Levi, Nicolás, 2023. "Income inequality and rule-systems within public transport: A study of Medellín (Colombia) and Santiago (Chile)," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    3. Davies, Julia & Hannah, Corrie & Guido, Zack & Zimmer, Andrew & McCann, Laura & Battersby, Jane & Evans, Tom, 2021. "Barriers to urban agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    4. Tiznado-Aitken, Ignacio & Lucas, Karen & Muñoz, Juan Carlos & Hurtubia, Ricardo, 2022. "Freedom of choice? Social and spatial disparities on combined housing and transport affordability," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 39-53.
    5. Andreasen, Manja Hoppe & Møller-Jensen, Lasse, 2017. "Access to the city: Mobility patterns, transport and accessibility in peripheral settlements of Dar es Salaam," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 20-29.
    6. Foley, Louise & Brugulat-Panés, Anna & Woodcock, James & Govia, Ishtar & Hambleton, Ian & Turner-Moss, Eleanor & Mogo, Ebele R.I. & Awinja, Alice Charity & Dambisya, Philip M. & Matina, Sostina Spiwe , 2022. "Socioeconomic and gendered inequities in travel behaviour in Africa: Mixed-method systematic review and meta-ethnography," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 292(C).
    7. Lourdes Diaz Olvera & Didier Plat & Pascal Pochet, 2015. "Assessment of mobility inequalities and income data collection. Methodological issues and a case study (Douala, Cameroon) [Evaluation des inégalités de mobilité et recueil des revenus. Questions mé," Post-Print halshs-01235185, HAL.
    8. Lourdes Diaz Olvera & Didier Plat & Pascal Pochet, 2015. "Assessment of mobility inequalities and income data collection. Methodological issues and a case study (Douala, Cameroon)," Post-Print halshs-01205776, HAL.
    9. Lebrand,Mathilde Sylvie Maria & Theophile,Ewane, 2022. "Rising Incomes, Transport Demand, and Sector Decarbonization," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10010, The World Bank.
    10. Mendiate, Classio Joao & Nkurunziza, Alphonse & Machanguana, Constancio Augusto & Bernardo, Roberto, 2022. "Pedestrian travel behaviour and urban form: Comparing two small Mozambican cities," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    11. Hernandez, Diego & Rossel, Cecilia, 2015. "Inequality and access to social services in Latin America: space–time constraints of child health checkups and prenatal care in Montevideo," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 24-32.
    12. Diaz Olvera, Lourdes & Plat, Didier & Pochet, Pascal, 2015. "Assessment of mobility inequalities and income data collection. Methodological issues and a case study (Douala, Cameroon)," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 180-188.
    13. Arun Advani, 2022. "Who does and doesn't pay taxes?," Fiscal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 43(1), pages 5-22, March.
    14. Kim, Dong-Hyeon & Lin, Shu-Chin, 2023. "Income inequality, inflation and financial development," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 468-487.
    15. Alex Cobham & Luke Schlogl & Andy Sumner, 2015. "Inequality and the Tails: The Palma Proposition and Ratio Revisited," Working Papers 143, United Nations, Department of Economics and Social Affairs.
    16. Kim, Hyoungjong & Rhee, Dong-Eun, 2022. "The effects of asset prices on income inequality: Redistribution policy does matter," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    17. Stimpfle, Alexander & Stadelmann, David, 2015. "The Impact of Fundamental Development Factors on Different Income Groups: International Evidence," VfS Annual Conference 2015 (Muenster): Economic Development - Theory and Policy 113128, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    18. Dumedah, Gift & Abass, Kabila & Gyasi, Razak M. & Forkuor, John Boulard & Novignon, Jacob, 2023. "Inefficient allocation of paratransit service terminals and routes in Ghana: The role of driver unions and paratransit operators," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    19. Matthew Fisher-Post, 2020. "Examining the Great Leveling: New Evidence on Midcentury American Inequality," PSE Working Papers hal-02876981, HAL.
    20. Matthew Fisher-Post, 2020. "Examining the Great Leveling: New Evidence on Midcentury American Inequality," World Inequality Lab Working Papers hal-02876981, HAL.

    More about this item

    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:eee:trapol:v:100:y:2021:i:c:p:161-171. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/30473/description#description .

    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.