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Governmental Competition in Road Charging and Capacity Choice

Author

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  • Barry Ubbels

    (Faculty of Economics and Econometrics, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)

  • Erik Verhoef

    (Faculty of Economics and Econometrics, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)

Abstract

In this study we have analysed policy interactions between an urban and a regional government which have different objectives (welfare of its own citizens) and two policy instruments (toll and capacity) available. Using a simulation model, we investigated the welfare consequences of the various regimes that result when both governments compete, and take sequential decisions on prices and capacities. We find that competition between governments may not be very beneficial to overall welfare in society compared with one central government. It appears that the tendency of tax exporting is very strong in this setting where commuters have to pay road tolls set by the city government. The main issue is not which exact type of game is played between the two actors, but much more whether there is cooperation (leading to first-best) or competition between governments, where of secondary importance is the question who is leading in the price stage (if there is a leader). Sensitivity analysis suggests that the performance for most game situations improves when demand becomes more elastic. When the price of road investment changes, the performance relative to the optimal situation remains more or less equal for all cases.

Suggested Citation

  • Barry Ubbels & Erik Verhoef, 2006. "Governmental Competition in Road Charging and Capacity Choice," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 06-036/3, Tinbergen Institute, revised 10 Sep 2007.
    • Handle: RePEc:tin:wpaper:20060036
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    Cited by:

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    3. Russo, Antonio, 2013. "Voting on road congestion policy," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(5), pages 707-724.
    4. Bruno DE BORGER & Stefan PROOST, 2012. "Policies to reduce traffic externalities in cities," Working Papers of Department of Economics, Leuven ces12.10, KU Leuven, Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB), Department of Economics, Leuven.
    5. Watling, D.P. & Shepherd, S.P. & Koh, A., 2015. "Cordon toll competition in a network of two cities: Formulation and sensitivity to traveller route and demand responses," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 93-116.
    6. Georgina Santos & Erik Verhoef, 2011. "Road Congestion Pricing," Chapters, in: André de Palma & Robin Lindsey & Emile Quinet & Roger Vickerman (ed.), A Handbook of Transport Economics, chapter 23, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    7. Hörcher, Daniel & De Borger, Bruno & Graham, Daniel J., 2023. "Subsidised transport services in a fiscal federation: Why local governments may be against decentralised service provision," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 34(C).
    8. Toon Vandyck & Stef Proost, 2012. "Inefficiencies in regional commuting policy," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 91(3), pages 659-689, August.
    9. Bruno Borger & Stef Proost, 2016. "The political economy of pricing and capacity decisions for congestible local public goods in a federal state," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 23(5), pages 934-959, October.
    10. Bruno De Borger & Wilfried Pauwels, 2010. "A Nash bargaining solution to models of tax and investment competition: tolls and investment in serial transport corridors," Working Papers 2010/1, Institut d'Economia de Barcelona (IEB).
    11. Shepherd, Simon & Balijepalli, Chandra, 2015. "A game of two cities: A toll setting game with experimental results," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 95-109.
    12. De Borger, Bruno & Proost, Stef, 2013. "Traffic externalities in cities: The economics of speed bumps, low emission zones and city bypasses," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 53-70.
    13. De Borger, Bruno & Proost, Stef, 2021. "Road tolls, diverted traffic and local traffic calming measures: Who should be in charge?," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 92-115.
    14. Fung, Chau Man & Proost, Stef, 2017. "Can we decentralize transport taxes and infrastructure supply?," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 9(C), pages 1-19.
    15. Huang, Naqun & Lien, Jaimie W. & Zheng, Jie, 2023. "To acquire or compete? Government intervention in transportation under different route structures," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).
    16. Chandra Balijepalli & Simon Shepherd, 2016. "Cordon tolls and competition between cities with symmetric and asymmetric interactions," Transportation, Springer, vol. 43(5), pages 797-821, September.
    17. Yacan Wang & Yu Wang & Luyao Xie & Huiyu Zhou, 2018. "Impact of Perceived Uncertainty on Public Acceptability of Congestion Charging: An Empirical Study in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-21, December.
    18. Lindsey, Robin, 2012. "Road pricing and investment," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 1(1), pages 49-63.
    19. De Borger, Bruno & Proost, Stef, 2012. "Transport policy competition between governments: A selective survey of the literature," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 1(1), pages 35-48.
    20. Feder, Christophe, 2018. "Decentralization and spillovers: A new role for transportation infrastructure," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 13(C), pages 36-47.
    21. Erik T. Verhoef, 2007. "Private Roads," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 07-093/3, Tinbergen Institute, revised 25 Jun 2008.
    22. Lin, Ming Hsin, 2020. "Congestion pricing and capacity for internationally interlinked airports," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 126-142.
    23. Gühnemann, Astrid & Koh, Andrew & Shepherd, Simon & Lawler, Mary, 2011. "Implications of interdependencies between charging strategies of local authorities for the protection of sensitive areas in the Trans-Pennine Corridor," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 42-52, January.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    traffic congestion; road pricing; road capacity; tax competition;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • R4 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Transportation Economics

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