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Marriott Philadelphia Downtown, Meeting Room 308
Hosted By:
Transportation and Public Utilities Group
Topics in Transportation
Paper Session
Saturday, Jan. 6, 2018 10:15 AM - 12:15 PM
- Chair: Peter Loeb, Rutgers University
Airport Noise and House Prices: Closing of One Airport and Opening of a New Airport in Denver
Abstract
There have been many studies that examine how airport noise impacts house prices. Few if any of these have focused on the opening of a new airport, and how such an event has impacted residential property values. We use a “difference-in-differences” approach to examine how property values near Denver International Airport changed with the opening of the airport, as well as with the announcement of the plans to construct the new airport. We have developed a dataset covering property sales in the Colorado counties of Denver, Weld, and Adams. In addition to studying the impacts of the announcement of a new airport, we also examine how the closing of the old Stapleton Airport in Denver, and the associated fall in noise, impacted property values. For Stapleton, we consider both the announcement and the actual closing of the airport. Our paper is the first known study to examine both the closing and opening of an airport at different locations in the same metropolitan area, and it will be of interest to determine whether the effects are symmetric. In other words, is the impact of X decibels fall in noise at Stapleton Airport the same in magnitude as an X decibels increase in noise near the new airport?Uber and Urban Crime
Abstract
This paper investigates the association of Uber, a substantial transportation innovation, with crime counts in urban areas that have accepted the program. I find the introduction of Uber to be associated with a large and significant crime reduction of 4% in treated cities, and discuss several mechanisms through which Uber may be enacting this change. The detailed data set allows us to identify that this crime reduction is only significant on the weekends, when Uber is expected to deliver the most rides. Furthermore, the significant crime reduction is entirely composed of crimes against persons, no significant reduction occurs in the plausibly irrelevant crimes against property or society. These estimates suggests that such ride-sharing programs may have positive externalities toward crime reduction that will not inherently be taken into account by natural market forces.Production & Cost in Delivering Transit to Rural Communities
Abstract
With the aging of rural Baby Boomers and increasing Federal and state budget constraints, understanding the cost-effectiveness of subsidized rural transit services is important. Rural transit systems in the U.S. typically offer demand-response services in contrast to fixed route services that characterize urban bus systems. While fixed route rural transit services have been the subject of a number of studies in the last twenty years, demand-response transit services have received much less attention. Using detailed operating cost data for all demand-response systems in the state of GA for 2013-2016, this study develops and estimates short-run rural transit cost functions in order to shed light on the technological characteristics of transit services in rural communities. Preliminary results indicate that these systems operate under significant returns to capital utilization. The study will also identify the capabilities of small rural systems to substitute inputs in delivering rural services, input demand price sensitivities, and estimates of optimal fleet size.The Reduction of Motor Vehicle Fatalities from the Perspective of Sturdy Values: The Autonomous Vehicle Effect
Abstract
Motor vehicle crashes continue to result in large numbers of fatalities each year and represent the leading cause of death for young persons. This study is the first to examine specifically the effects of a set of focus variables thought to be major contributors to motor vehicle fatalities including distractions caused by, e.g., cellphones, suicidal propensities among others using a newly developed Bayesian technique designed to measure the sturdiness of the results. The analysis is conducted using a rich panel data set for the period 1980 to 2010 by state and the District of Columbia which includes motor vehicle, economic, and driver related variables. As mentioned, the analysis makes use of a new Bayesian statistic developed by Edward Leamer, i.e., S-values. This statistic summarizes both estimation uncertainty and model ambiguity by considering millions of potential models of motor vehicle fatalities.Discussant(s)
Felix Friedt
,
University of Oregon
Mike Brown
,
University of Utah
John Bitzen
,
North Dakota State University
Jason Barr
,
Rutgers University
Jeffrey Cohen
,
University of Connecticut
JEL Classifications
- R4 - Transportation Economics
- H0 - General