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Voting on traffic congestion policy with two levels of government

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  • Russo, Antonio

Abstract

I study how the political decision process affects urban traffic congestion policy. First, I look at the case of a single government deciding, through majority voting, on a monetary charge to be paid to drive to a city's Central Business District (CBD): if the majority of individuals prefers to drive more (resp. less) than the average, a voting equilibrium with lower (higher) charge emerges. Next, I consider the case of two government levels involved in traffic policy: parking charges in (resp. cordon tolls around) a city's CBD and capacity investments are chosen by a local (resp. regional) government, through a majority voting process. While tax exporting motives and the imperfect coordination among the two governments may lead to higher overall charges than in the case of a single government, strong preferences for driving across the population can still bring to an equilibiurm with suboptimal total charges.

Suggested Citation

  • Russo, Antonio, 2010. "Voting on traffic congestion policy with two levels of government," MPRA Paper 24776, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:24776
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Arnott, Richard & Inci, Eren, 2006. "An integrated model of downtown parking and traffic congestion," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(3), pages 418-442, November.
    2. repec:ucp:bkecon:9781884829987 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Parry, I. W. H., 2002. "Comparing the efficiency of alternative policies for reducing traffic congestion," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(3), pages 333-362, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    traffic congestion policy; cordon tolls; parking; voting; fiscal competition;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H77 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - Intergovernmental Relations; Federalism
    • D78 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Positive Analysis of Policy Formulation and Implementation
    • H23 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies
    • L98 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities - - - Government Policy

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