Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Political Economy of Congestion Pricing: Evidence from New York City (Wave 2)

Traffic congestion is a growing issue in cities around the world. Congestion is costly for travelers, forcing them to sit unproductively in traffic, sometimes for hours. Moreover, excessive car idling results in excess greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to environmental change. Given these social and environmental costs, mitigating traffic congestion is an essential challenge for decisionmakers and scientists alike. Congestion pricing has been demonstrated to be an effective tool for reducing traffic and emissions. However, many cities that have attempted to introduce congestion pricing have failed to do so, often because of strong local voter opposition. This study examines why voters support or oppose this action and how they adjust their beliefs and commuting behaviors in response. This is an important question for the future of green urban transportation decisions. The findings from this research could inform decisionmakers on how to communicate to voters to increase the support for and efficacy of green rules. The study investigates how individuals perceive and integrate information into their decision-making process in response to new rules in the context of traffic congestion mitigation strategies. The study consists of a two-wave experimental survey timed around the introduction of a congestion pricing rule in a large city. The study includes an information intervention that tests whether correcting ex ante misconceptions about congestion pricing influences respondents’ support for the rule. The study also follows respondents after the implementation of the rule to see the effect of information updating on their commuting behavior. Combined, the findings from these experiments advance understanding of how individuals update their beliefs about an issue of public concern and whether an intervention affects their perception of a new rule to remediate the issue, and their behavior. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.