IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cpm/docweb/2302.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Displacing Congestion: Evidence from Paris

Author

Listed:
  • Bou Sleiman, Lea

Abstract

This paper shows that road-closing policies may have adverse short-run effects on pol-lution by reallocating traffic toward more congested roads. I study the impact of the2016closure of the Voie Georges Pompidou, a one-way expressway crossing downtown Paris, ontraffic and pollution displacement. To do so, I rely on a difference-in-difference strategy basedon the direction and the timing of traffic, which I implement on detailed road-sensor data.I show that the closure lowered average speed by over15% on two sets of substitute roads:central streets nearby and the already congested southern ring road. Using air quality data,I show that NO2concentrations increased by6% near the ring road and by1.5% near lo-cal roads. The reduced-form results on traffic are quantitatively consistent with a calibratedmodel of shortest route choice, which allows me to recover the underlying rerouting patterns.Even though few displaced commuters diverted to the ring road, they triggered a massivepollution increase because of the U-shaped relationship between emissions and traffic speed.Overall, I estimate that up to90% of the pollution cost was borne by lower-income residentsaround the ring road, who lived far away from the new amenity created by the closure andmostly outside the jurisdiction responsible for the closure decision. Finally, I study counter-factual closure scenarios to assess under which conditions those adverse effects could havebeen mitigated.

Suggested Citation

  • Bou Sleiman, Lea, 2023. "Displacing Congestion: Evidence from Paris," CEPREMAP Working Papers (Docweb) 2302, CEPREMAP.
  • Handle: RePEc:cpm:docweb:2302
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.cepremap.fr/depot/docweb/docweb2302.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lucas W. Davis, 2008. "The Effect of Driving Restrictions on Air Quality in Mexico City," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 116(1), pages 38-81, February.
    2. 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.
    3. Adler, Martin W. & van Ommeren, Jos N., 2016. "Does public transit reduce car travel externalities? Quasi-natural experiments' evidence from transit strikes," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 106-119.
    4. Geroliminis, Nikolas & Daganzo, Carlos F., 2008. "Existence of urban-scale macroscopic fundamental diagrams: Some experimental findings," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 42(9), pages 759-770, November.
    5. Winston, Clifford & Langer, Ashley, 2006. "The effect of government highway spending on road users' congestion costs," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(3), pages 463-483, November.
    6. Gonzalez-Navarro, Marco & Turner, Matthew A., 2018. "Subways and urban growth: Evidence from earth," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 85-106.
    7. Haywood, Luke & Koning, Martin & Prud'homme, Remy, 2018. "The economic cost of subway congestion: Estimates from Paris," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 14(C), pages 1-8.
    8. Gibson, Matthew & Carnovale, Maria, 2015. "The effects of road pricing on driver behavior and air pollution," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 62-73.
    9. Gilles Duranton & Matthew A. Turner, 2011. "The Fundamental Law of Road Congestion: Evidence from US Cities," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(6), pages 2616-2652, October.
    10. Pierre C. Boyer & Thomas Delemotte & Germain Gauthier & Vincent Rollet & Benoît Schmutz, 2020. "Social Media and the Dynamics of Protests," CESifo Working Paper Series 8326, CESifo.
    11. Liu, Louie Nan & McDonald, John F., 1999. "Economic efficiency of second-best congestion pricing schemes in urban highway systems," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 157-188, April.
    12. Janet Currie & Reed Walker, 2011. "Traffic Congestion and Infant Health: Evidence from E-ZPass," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 3(1), pages 65-90, January.
    13. Akbar, Prottoy & Duranton, Gilles, 2017. "Measuring the Cost of Congestion in Highly Congested City: Bogotá," Research Department working papers 1028, CAF Development Bank Of Latinamerica.
    14. Michael L Anderson, 2020. "As the Wind Blows: The Effects of Long-Term Exposure to Air Pollution on Mortality," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 18(4), pages 1886-1927.
    15. Kenneth Y. Chay & Michael Greenstone, 2005. "Does Air Quality Matter? Evidence from the Housing Market," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 113(2), pages 376-424, April.
    16. Siamak Ardekani & Robert Herman, 1987. "Urban Network-Wide Traffic Variables and Their Relations," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 21(1), pages 1-16, February.
    17. de Grange, Louis & Troncoso, Rodrigo, 2011. "Impacts of vehicle restrictions on urban transport flows: The case of Santiago, Chile," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 18(6), pages 862-869, November.
    18. Boyer, Pierre & Delemotte, Thomas & Gauthier, Germain & Rollet, Vincent & Schmutz, Benoit, 2020. "The Gilets jaunes: Offline and Online," CEPR Discussion Papers 14780, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    19. Gallego, Francisco & Montero, Juan-Pablo & Salas, Christian, 2013. "The effect of transport policies on car use: Evidence from Latin American cities," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 47-62.
    20. Kean, Andrew J. & Harley, Robert A. & Kendall, Gary R., 2003. "Effects of Vehicle Speed and Engine Load on Motor Vehicle Emissions," University of California Transportation Center, Working Papers qt01x9w3kf, University of California Transportation Center.
    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. Aydin, Eren & Gehrsitz, Markus & Traxler, Christian, 2024. "Greener Fleet, Cleaner Air: How Low Emission Zones Reduce Pollution," IZA Discussion Papers 17144, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Lucie Letrouit & Martin Koning, 2024. "How large are the costs of local pollution emitted by freight vehicles? Insights from the COVID-19 lockdown in Paris," Post-Print hal-04695669, HAL.

    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. Léa Bou Sleiman, 2021. "Are car-free centers detrimental to the periphery? Evidence from the pedestrianization of the Parisian riverbank," Working Papers 2021-03, Center for Research in Economics and Statistics.
    2. Shihe Fu & V. Brian Viard, 2022. "A mayors perspective on tackling air pollution," Chapters, in: Charles K.Y. Leung (ed.), Handbook of Real Estate and Macroeconomics, chapter 16, pages 413-437, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    3. Daniel Albalate & Xavier Fageda, 2019. "Congestion, Road Safety, and the Effectiveness of Public Policies in Urban Areas," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(18), pages 1-21, September.
    4. Tassinari, Filippo, 2024. "Low emission zones and traffic congestion: Evidence from Madrid Central," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).
    5. Xia, Fan & Cheng, Ximeng & Lei, Zhen & Xu, Jintao & Liu, Yu & Zhang, Yingxin & Zhang, Qinghong, 2023. "Heterogeneous impacts of local traffic congestion on local air pollution within a city: Utilizing taxi trajectory data," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 122(C).
    6. Wes Austin & Stefano Carattini & John Gomez Mahecha & Michael Pesko, 2020. "Covid-19 Mortality and Contemporaneous Air Pollution," CESifo Working Paper Series 8609, CESifo.
    7. Ioulia V Ossokina & Jos van Ommeren & Henk van Mourik, 2023. "Do highway widenings reduce congestion?," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 23(4), pages 871-900.
    8. 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.
    9. Li, Shanjun & Wang, Binglin & Zhou, Hui, 2024. "Decarbonizing passenger transportation in developing countries: Lessons and perspectives1," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    10. Kang, Cheolmin & Ota, Mitsuru & Ushijima, Koichi, 2024. "Benefits of diesel emission regulations: Evidence from the World's largest low emission zone," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    11. Austin, Wes & Carattini, Stefano & Gomez-Mahecha, John & Pesko, Michael F., 2023. "The effects of contemporaneous air pollution on COVID-19 morbidity and mortality," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    12. Davis, Lucas W., 2021. "Estimating the price elasticity of demand for subways: Evidence from Mexico," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    13. Brent, Daniel & Beland, Louis-Philippe, 2020. "Traffic congestion, transportation policies, and the performance of first responders," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    14. Ioulia V Ossokina & Jos van Ommeren & Henk van Mourik, 2023. "Do highway widenings reduce congestion?," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 23(4), pages 871-900.
    15. Beland, Louis-Philippe & Brent, Daniel A., 2018. "Traffic and crime," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 160(C), pages 96-116.
    16. Gaduh, Arya & Gračner, Tadeja & Rothenberg, Alexander D., 2022. "Life in the slow lane: Unintended consequences of public transit in Jakarta," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    17. Lee, Wang-Sheng & Tran, Trang My & Yu, Lamont Bo, 2023. "Green infrastructure and air pollution: Evidence from highways connecting two megacities in China," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 122(C).
    18. Sun, Chuanwang & Xu, Shuhua & Yang, Mian & Gong, Xu, 2022. "Urban traffic regulation and air pollution: A case study of urban motor vehicle restriction policy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    19. Borck, Rainald, 2019. "Public transport and urban pollution," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 356-366.
    20. Rivera, Nathaly M., 2017. "The Effectiveness of Temporary Driving Restrictions: Evidence from Air Pollution, Vehicle Flows, and Mass-Transit Users in Santiago," 2017 Annual Meeting, July 30-August 1, Chicago, Illinois 259182, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Congestion; Air Pollution; Public Transportation; Route Choice;
    All these keywords.

    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:cpm:docweb:2302. 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: Mathieu Perona (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ceprefr.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.