Economics of Infrastructure Investment: Public Transportation
Public transit systems – buses, subways, and commuter rail – deliver transportation services for tens of millions of riders in the US, and for hundreds of millions globally. In the US, most public transportation is provided by the public sector, but the private sector plays an important role in many other countries. Public-private partnerships of various types are common. Even private transit companies typically use roads that are built and maintained by the public sector.
The economic approach to public transportation concerns both how to make transit systems more efficient and effective and how those transit systems then shape their regions. The transit literature has focused on financing models, such as user fees, property taxes and general revenues, optimal routes and capital investment, and the distributional consequences of buses and trains. In some cases, particularly for rail, fixed costs are high but marginal costs per rider are low. The financial challenges associated with the pandemic, and the rise of new technologies, such as autonomous vehicles, electric buses, and ride-sharing, make it a particularly appropriate time to focus the lens of economics on public transit systems.
To promote research on economic issues related to public transit systems, the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), with the support of the Smith Richardson Foundation, will convene a conference in Cambridge, MA on Friday, April 28, 2023. The conference will be co-organized by NBER Research Associates Edward Glaeser and James Poterba. It will feature five paper presentations on various aspects of public transit financing, operation, and investment. If there is sufficient interest, it may also include a set of shorter presentations by graduate students who are working on public transit issues.
The organizers welcome submissions of research papers on any economic aspect of public transit systems, with particularly emphasis on system operations and the impact of system access on economic outcomes. Possible topics include, but are not limited to:
- The price elasticity of demand for transit services, cross-mode price elasticities, and the pattern of substitution between private vehicles and public transit
- The impact of targeted subsidy programs such as free bus or rail passes for transfer program recipients on public transit use
- Options for funding capital investments, including fare increases, greater reliance on private capital, and the use of general revenue funding
- The benefits and costs of public-private partnerships and the role of private ownership more generally in delivering public transit services
- Criteria for assessing optimal investments in transportation, both with regard to investment levels and the spatial allocation of new investment
- The effect of technological changes, such as electric and even autonomous vehicles, on the design and operation of public transportation systems
- The interactions between public policies targeted towards drivers of personal cars, such as tolls and express lane programs, and policies aimed at public transit programs
- The effect of public transit systems on spatial patterns of local economic activity as well as the aggregate activity level in metropolitan areas
- Measuring the consequences of access to public transit effect employment opportunities and economic mobility, with particular attention to differences for workers at different points in the income distribution
- The impact of public transit systems on the local and global environment, and in particular whether increasing access to public transit increases or decreases total consumption of fossil fuel
- Analysis of alternative strategies for reducing the carbon footprint of existing transit systems
- Potential connections between public transit systems and public health, including the impact of improving access to healthcare providers, shifting exercise patterns of public transportation users, and environmental quality
- The prospects for demand for public transit following the pandemic-related drop in utilization and the growing importance of work-from-home in many urban areas
- Interactions between rising bicycle ridership and public transit systems, including both ridership demand and safety considerations
The conference organizers welcome submissions of both empirical and theoretical research, and encourage submissions from scholars who are early in their careers, who are not NBER affiliates, and who are from groups that are under-represented in the economics profession. Please share this call for papers with colleagues or others who might be working on these issues but not aware of this meeting.
To be considered for inclusion on the program, papers must be uploaded by 11:59pm EST on Monday, January 30, to:
http://conference.nber.org/
Papers that will be published by April 2023 are not eligible for presentation. Authors chosen to present papers will be notified in mid-February. The NBER will pay a modest honorarium to the authors of each paper that is included on the program, and will cover economy class travel and hotel expenses for up to three authors per paper and for discussants.
Questions about this conference may be addressed to confer@nber.org.