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Estimating the effect of urban road congestion on air quality in Latin America

Author

Listed:
  • Bedoya-Maya, Felipe
  • Calatayud, Agustina
  • González Mejia, Vileydy

Abstract

Road congestion and air pollution are key challenges for quality of life in urban settings. This research leverages highly disaggregated crowdsourced data from Latin America to study the effect of road congestion on levels of carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, and particulate matter in four of the most congested cities in developing countries: Bogota, Buenos Aires, Mexico City, and Santiago. Based on a panel data econometric approach with over 4.4 billion records from Waze and hourly data from 54 air monitoring stations for 2019, our two-stage least square model shows a cumulative increase of 0.6% in response to a 1% of road congestion on the three air pollutants. Moreover, we find a nonlinear relationship between road congestion and air quality and estimate the threshold above which the effect decays. This study provides evidence that supports public policies designed to make urban mobility more sustainable by implementing measures to reduce road congestion in developing contexts.

Suggested Citation

  • Bedoya-Maya, Felipe & Calatayud, Agustina & González Mejia, Vileydy, 2022. "Estimating the effect of urban road congestion on air quality in Latin America," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 12468, Inter-American Development Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:idb:brikps:12468
    DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18235/0004512
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • R41 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Transportation Economics - - - Transportation: Demand, Supply, and Congestion; Travel Time; Safety and Accidents; Transportation Noise
    • O18 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Urban, Rural, Regional, and Transportation Analysis; Housing; Infrastructure
    • L91 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities - - - Transportation: General
    • Q01 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - General - - - Sustainable Development

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