Social Benefits and Private Costs of Driving Restriction Policies: The Impact of Madrid Central on Congestion, Pollution, and Consumer Spending

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Galdon-Sanchez, Jose Enrique; Gil, Ricard; Holub, Felix; Uriz-Uharte, Guillermo
• 署名单位: Universidad Publica de Navarra; Queens University - Canada; Goethe University Frankfurt
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC ASSOCIATION
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1542-4766
• DOI: 10.1093/jeea/jvac064
• 发表日期: 2023
• 页码: 1227-1267
• 关键词: low-emission zones; air-pollution; environmental-regulations; traffic congestion; infant-mortality; health evidence; clean-air; QUALITY; car

摘要

Low Emission Zones are defined areas within a city where driving restrictions are introduced with the aim to reduce pollution, but they may also unintentionally distort consumer spending decisions. By increasing transportation costs to ban-affected areas, driving restrictions could discourage spending in stores of those areas. This paper empirically evaluates the effects of a driving restriction regulation in Madrid, Spain, known as Madrid Central. First, using a difference-in-differences identification strategy, we find an immediate decrease of 19% in pollution and of 16% in congestion with pollution dropping further once fines were levied. Second, we rely on credit card transaction data to show consumers affected by the regulation reduced their brick-and-mortar spending in the regulated area by 21%. Finally, because affected consumers partially substitute their consumption spending from brick-and-mortar to online shopping, we find suggestive evidence that e-commerce may smooth the impact of changes in transportation costs due to environmental regulations.