TY  - JOUR
AU  - Arnott,Richard
AU  - Kraus,Marvin
TI  - When Are Anonymous Congestion Charges Consistent with Marginal Cost     Pricing?
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Technical Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 154
PY  - 1994
Y2  - April 1994
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/t0154
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/t0154.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Richard J. Arnott
Department of Economics
Boston College
Chestnut Hill, MA 02467
Tel: 617/552-3674
Fax: 617/552-2308
E-Mail: richard.arnott@ucr.edu
AB  - There are constraints on pricing congestible facilities.  First, if heterogeneous users are observationally indistinguishable, then congestion charges must be anonymous.  Second, the time variation of congestion charges may be constrained.  Do these constraints undermine the feasibility of marginal cost pricing, and hence the applicability of the first-best theory of congestible facilities?  We show that if heterogeneous users behave identically when using the congestible facility and if the time variation of congestion charges is unconstrained, then marginal cost pricing is feasible with anonymous congestion charges.  If, however, the time variation of congestion charges is constrained, optimal pricing with anonymous congestion charges entails Ramsey pricing.
ER  -