Most dynamic models of congestion pricing use fully time-variant tolls. However, in practice, tolls are uniform over the day or at most have a few steps. Such uniform and step tolls have received surprisingly little attention from the literature. Moreover, most models that do study them assume that demand is insensitive to price. This seems an empirically questionable assumption that, as this paper finds, strongly affects the implications of step tolling for the consumer. First-best tolling has no effect on the generalized price, and thus leaves the consumer equally well off as without tolling. Conversely, under price-sensitive demand, step tolling increases the price and lowers the number of users, making consumers worse off. The more steps the step toll has, the closer it approximates the first-best toll, thereby increasing the welfare gain and making consumers better off. This makes it important for real-world tolls to have as many steps as possible: this not only raises welfare, but also increases the political acceptability of the scheme by making consumers better off.
{"title":"Step Tolling with Price Sensitive Demand: Why More Steps in the Toll Makes the Consumer Better Off","authors":"Vincent A.C. van den Berg","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.2054575","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2054575","url":null,"abstract":"Most dynamic models of congestion pricing use fully time-variant tolls. However, in practice, tolls are uniform over the day or at most have a few steps. Such uniform and step tolls have received surprisingly little attention from the literature. Moreover, most models that do study them assume that demand is insensitive to price. This seems an empirically questionable assumption that, as this paper finds, strongly affects the implications of step tolling for the consumer. First-best tolling has no effect on the generalized price, and thus leaves the consumer equally well off as without tolling. Conversely, under price-sensitive demand, step tolling increases the price and lowers the number of users, making consumers worse off. The more steps the step toll has, the closer it approximates the first-best toll, thereby increasing the welfare gain and making consumers better off. This makes it important for real-world tolls to have as many steps as possible: this not only raises welfare, but also increases the political acceptability of the scheme by making consumers better off.","PeriodicalId":135506,"journal":{"name":"SRPN: Urban Design & Planning (Topic)","volume":"76 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-04-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"120944900","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Today, prepaid cards are used in dozens of payment applications. To examine the most recent developments, the Payment Cards Center of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia hosted a workshop on August 22, 2011. Leading the workshop was Tim Walsh, president and chief executive officer of Ready Credit Corporation, a firm that developed network-branded prepaid cards for use in transit-fare systems and also markets general-purpose, reloadable prepaid cards to consumers. Walsh discussed the unique opportunities and challenges associated with using prepaid cards for transit purposes. He described a model of customer acquisition that emphasizes direct advertising, high-quality call centers, and high rates of enrollment in direct deposit. Walsh compared and contrasted card usage patterns in his transit and general-purpose programs. He also described the importance of cost-effective messaging strategies that reduce program costs and teach customers how to reduce the fees they incur.
{"title":"A Prepaid Case Study: Ready Credit's General-Purpose & Transit-Fare Programs","authors":"P. Keitel","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.2040748","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2040748","url":null,"abstract":"Today, prepaid cards are used in dozens of payment applications. To examine the most recent developments, the Payment Cards Center of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia hosted a workshop on August 22, 2011. Leading the workshop was Tim Walsh, president and chief executive officer of Ready Credit Corporation, a firm that developed network-branded prepaid cards for use in transit-fare systems and also markets general-purpose, reloadable prepaid cards to consumers. Walsh discussed the unique opportunities and challenges associated with using prepaid cards for transit purposes. He described a model of customer acquisition that emphasizes direct advertising, high-quality call centers, and high rates of enrollment in direct deposit. Walsh compared and contrasted card usage patterns in his transit and general-purpose programs. He also described the importance of cost-effective messaging strategies that reduce program costs and teach customers how to reduce the fees they incur.","PeriodicalId":135506,"journal":{"name":"SRPN: Urban Design & Planning (Topic)","volume":"31 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122466111","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2012-02-01DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9787.2011.00754.x
T. Kemeny, M. Storper
This paper asks whether worker utility levels—composed of wages, rents, and amenities—are being equalized among American cities. Using microdata on U.S. urban workers in 1980 and 2000, little evidence of equalization is found. Comparable workers earn higher real wages in large cities, where amenities are also concentrated. Moreover, population growth between 1980 and 2000 has not been significantly different in low- and high-utility cities, suggesting that other forces are at work shaping the sorting processes that match workers and firms. We outline an alternative view of the drivers of change in the American urban system, and urban development more generally, by applying theory from economic geography.
{"title":"The Sources of Urban Development: Wages, Housing, and Amenity Gaps Across American Cities","authors":"T. Kemeny, M. Storper","doi":"10.1111/j.1467-9787.2011.00754.x","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9787.2011.00754.x","url":null,"abstract":"This paper asks whether worker utility levels—composed of wages, rents, and amenities—are being equalized among American cities. Using microdata on U.S. urban workers in 1980 and 2000, little evidence of equalization is found. Comparable workers earn higher real wages in large cities, where amenities are also concentrated. Moreover, population growth between 1980 and 2000 has not been significantly different in low- and high-utility cities, suggesting that other forces are at work shaping the sorting processes that match workers and firms. We outline an alternative view of the drivers of change in the American urban system, and urban development more generally, by applying theory from economic geography.","PeriodicalId":135506,"journal":{"name":"SRPN: Urban Design & Planning (Topic)","volume":"295 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"119662388","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Understanding people's resources and vulnerabilities is important to ongoing policy making efforts in emergency management and disaster resilience. This study examines the self-reported experiences, psychological effects, and evacuation behaviors of New Orleanians across age groups, using data from a series of surveys between 2006 and 2009 of New Orleans residents after the 2005 flood caused by levee breaches in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Respondents 65 years and over were significantly less likely than other respondents to report lost possessions; to worry about the future; to experience sadness, sleep loss, irritability, and lack of focus; and to have difficulties getting medical care and home repairs in the months following the storm, even when controlling for socioeconomic status, gender, and race. While it is important to note that the respondents represent those who had made it back to the city, rather than the entire pre Katrina population, the results indicate that old age can be more of a resource than a weakness in the face of disaster. Disaster policy should consider and plan for older people's vulnerabilities but should also prepare to benefit from older people's life experiences and resilience.
{"title":"Aging and Disaster: Coping in the Wake of Hurricane Katrina","authors":"C. Day, Alicia N. Jencik","doi":"10.5055/JEM.2011.0058","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5055/JEM.2011.0058","url":null,"abstract":"Understanding people's resources and vulnerabilities is important to ongoing policy making efforts in emergency management and disaster resilience. This study examines the self-reported experiences, psychological effects, and evacuation behaviors of New Orleanians across age groups, using data from a series of surveys between 2006 and 2009 of New Orleans residents after the 2005 flood caused by levee breaches in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Respondents 65 years and over were significantly less likely than other respondents to report lost possessions; to worry about the future; to experience sadness, sleep loss, irritability, and lack of focus; and to have difficulties getting medical care and home repairs in the months following the storm, even when controlling for socioeconomic status, gender, and race. While it is important to note that the respondents represent those who had made it back to the city, rather than the entire pre Katrina population, the results indicate that old age can be more of a resource than a weakness in the face of disaster. Disaster policy should consider and plan for older people's vulnerabilities but should also prepare to benefit from older people's life experiences and resilience.","PeriodicalId":135506,"journal":{"name":"SRPN: Urban Design & Planning (Topic)","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2011-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131195961","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
As urbanized areas have grown across the United States, roads have quickly developed with them. Yet many cities have developed this infrastructure at the cost of failing to adequately fund urban mass transit, in spite of the important services it provides for the poor, commuters, and the environment. Consequently, many urban mass transit systems have struggled with deficits, increased fares, and reduced service. This study examines six major systems in the United States and analyzes data from these systems to provide policy recommendations regarding urban mass transit funding.
{"title":"Funding Urban Mass Transit in the United States","authors":"Michael A. Gordon","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.2007981","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2007981","url":null,"abstract":"As urbanized areas have grown across the United States, roads have quickly developed with them. Yet many cities have developed this infrastructure at the cost of failing to adequately fund urban mass transit, in spite of the important services it provides for the poor, commuters, and the environment. Consequently, many urban mass transit systems have struggled with deficits, increased fares, and reduced service. This study examines six major systems in the United States and analyzes data from these systems to provide policy recommendations regarding urban mass transit funding.","PeriodicalId":135506,"journal":{"name":"SRPN: Urban Design & Planning (Topic)","volume":"3 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2011-03-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124819034","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The ongoing problem of urban poverty has resisted almost all attempts at finding a solution. This paper proposes that by mobilizing the available labor in a poor urban neighborhood, poverty can be alleviated. This will require a motivated community organizer along with community leaders who together will organize community work teams which operate by issuing a local neighborhood currency that is backed by the work teams' labor.
{"title":"Alleviating Urban Poverty by Mobilizing Neighborhood Labor","authors":"R. W. Copple","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.1787192","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1787192","url":null,"abstract":"The ongoing problem of urban poverty has resisted almost all attempts at finding a solution. This paper proposes that by mobilizing the available labor in a poor urban neighborhood, poverty can be alleviated. This will require a motivated community organizer along with community leaders who together will organize community work teams which operate by issuing a local neighborhood currency that is backed by the work teams' labor.","PeriodicalId":135506,"journal":{"name":"SRPN: Urban Design & Planning (Topic)","volume":"9 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2011-03-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"117048152","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2009-04-27DOI: 10.1111/j.1540-5850.2009.00924.x
J. Fowles, C. Mamaril
While Katrina has raised awareness of the potential impact of hurricanes on municipalities along the Gulf Coast, it remains unclear if the municipal bond market considers other types of natural disaster risk in other areas. We attempt to fill this gap by conducting an analysis to determine if underlying geologic earthquake risk affects interest costs for municipal bond issuers in California. We find that earthquake risk does matter in determining the interest costs for municipalities issuing debt, but not universally - only for municipal bonds issued after Hurricane Katrina and only in relation to underlying geologic earthquake risk.
{"title":"Accounting for Natural Disasters: The Impact of Earthquake Risk on California Municipal Bond Pricing","authors":"J. Fowles, C. Mamaril","doi":"10.1111/j.1540-5850.2009.00924.x","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-5850.2009.00924.x","url":null,"abstract":"While Katrina has raised awareness of the potential impact of hurricanes on municipalities along the Gulf Coast, it remains unclear if the municipal bond market considers other types of natural disaster risk in other areas. We attempt to fill this gap by conducting an analysis to determine if underlying geologic earthquake risk affects interest costs for municipal bond issuers in California. We find that earthquake risk does matter in determining the interest costs for municipalities issuing debt, but not universally - only for municipal bonds issued after Hurricane Katrina and only in relation to underlying geologic earthquake risk.","PeriodicalId":135506,"journal":{"name":"SRPN: Urban Design & Planning (Topic)","volume":"24 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2009-04-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132517633","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2008-03-31DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9361.2007.00379.x
Robert M. Feinberg, M. Meurs
This paper analyzes the determinants of investments in physical infrastructure over the first decade of market reform in Central and Eastern Europe and other former Soviet economies. Both market and political reform would be expected to have an impact on the level of infrastructure, but the relationship will likely differ for infrastructure which remains dependent on the public sector and that which becomes more dependent on private investment after such reforms. Results for a large cross section of transition economies show that market reform has had a positive impact on both traditional and newer types of infrastructure, with a stronger impact on the newer types which are more likely to be market-derived. The findings also suggest that market reform is more likely to push investors to develop infrastructure when political and market reforms are accomplished in tandem.
{"title":"Market Reform and Infrastructure Development in Transition Economies","authors":"Robert M. Feinberg, M. Meurs","doi":"10.1111/j.1467-9361.2007.00379.x","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9361.2007.00379.x","url":null,"abstract":"This paper analyzes the determinants of investments in physical infrastructure over the first decade of market reform in Central and Eastern Europe and other former Soviet economies. Both market and political reform would be expected to have an impact on the level of infrastructure, but the relationship will likely differ for infrastructure which remains dependent on the public sector and that which becomes more dependent on private investment after such reforms. Results for a large cross section of transition economies show that market reform has had a positive impact on both traditional and newer types of infrastructure, with a stronger impact on the newer types which are more likely to be market-derived. The findings also suggest that market reform is more likely to push investors to develop infrastructure when political and market reforms are accomplished in tandem.","PeriodicalId":135506,"journal":{"name":"SRPN: Urban Design & Planning (Topic)","volume":"3 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2008-03-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114473935","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper offers a theoretical framework to analyze the implementability and performance of water rights buy-back schemes. On prediction of the model is that the success of the buy-back mechanism crucially depends on the effectiveness of the monitoring regime. When this is limited the implementation of the policy does not induce any substantial change in water consumption, and simply translates in a monetary transfer to farmers endowed with water rights. The analysis provides a theoretical support for the existing findings in the case study literature. While the previous result states that a functional monitoring system is a necessary condition for the success of the buy-back policy, the paper also shows that the degree of monitoring affects the cost of implementing the policy: as the monitoring regime becomes more powerful, the minimum price at which the policy can achieve a certain reduction in water consumption increases. In other words, the policy becomes more costly to implement and its objectives more difficult to achieve. This 'trade-off' needs to be carefully considered by governmental authorities when designing the optimal policy.
{"title":"On the Effectiveness and Implementability of Water Rights Buy-Back Schemes","authors":"C. Marchiori","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.1093959","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1093959","url":null,"abstract":"This paper offers a theoretical framework to analyze the implementability and performance of water rights buy-back schemes. On prediction of the model is that the success of the buy-back mechanism crucially depends on the effectiveness of the monitoring regime. When this is limited the implementation of the policy does not induce any substantial change in water consumption, and simply translates in a monetary transfer to farmers endowed with water rights. The analysis provides a theoretical support for the existing findings in the case study literature. While the previous result states that a functional monitoring system is a necessary condition for the success of the buy-back policy, the paper also shows that the degree of monitoring affects the cost of implementing the policy: as the monitoring regime becomes more powerful, the minimum price at which the policy can achieve a certain reduction in water consumption increases. In other words, the policy becomes more costly to implement and its objectives more difficult to achieve. This 'trade-off' needs to be carefully considered by governmental authorities when designing the optimal policy.","PeriodicalId":135506,"journal":{"name":"SRPN: Urban Design & Planning (Topic)","volume":"48 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2008-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126048551","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The aim of this paper is to analyze the equilibrium strategies of two developers in the real estate market, when demands are asymmetric. In particular, the paper considers three key features of the real estate market. First, the cost of redeveloping a building is, at least partially, irreversible. Second, the rent levels for different buildings vary stochastically over time. Third, demand functions for space are interrelated and may produce positive or negative externalities. Using the method of option pricing theory, the paper addresses this issue at three levels. First, it models the investment decision of a firm as a preassigned leader as a dynamic stochastic game. Then, it solves for the non-cooperative case, and for the perfectly cooperative case, in which redevelopment of an area is coordinated between firms. Finally, it analyzes the efficiency/inefficiency of the equilibria of the game. It is found that if one firm has a significantly large comparative advantage, the preemptive threat from the rival will be negligible. In this case, short burst and overbuilding phenomena, as predicted by Grenadier (1996), will occur only as a limiting case.
{"title":"Strategic Urban Development Under Uncertainty","authors":"F. Cortelezzi, P. Giannoccolo","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.1375369","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1375369","url":null,"abstract":"The aim of this paper is to analyze the equilibrium strategies of two developers in the real estate market, when demands are asymmetric. In particular, the paper considers three key features of the real estate market. First, the cost of redeveloping a building is, at least partially, irreversible. Second, the rent levels for different buildings vary stochastically over time. Third, demand functions for space are interrelated and may produce positive or negative externalities. Using the method of option pricing theory, the paper addresses this issue at three levels. First, it models the investment decision of a firm as a preassigned leader as a dynamic stochastic game. Then, it solves for the non-cooperative case, and for the perfectly cooperative case, in which redevelopment of an area is coordinated between firms. Finally, it analyzes the efficiency/inefficiency of the equilibria of the game. It is found that if one firm has a significantly large comparative advantage, the preemptive threat from the rival will be negligible. In this case, short burst and overbuilding phenomena, as predicted by Grenadier (1996), will occur only as a limiting case.","PeriodicalId":135506,"journal":{"name":"SRPN: Urban Design & Planning (Topic)","volume":"30 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2006-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123401321","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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