【Theme of the Lecture】Transportation Policies and Equilibrium Sorting: Evidence from Beijing

【Time】10:00 a.m.--11:30 a.m., October 26

【Place】Conference Room 1620 of the Library (the building behind the main building)

【Lecturer】Professor Li Shanjun from Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management at Cornell University

【Lecturer】Professor Cai Hongbo from BNUBS

【Abstract】

Air pollution and traffic congestion are two of the most pressing urban challenges in many fast-growing economies. Various transportation policies from both the demand and supply sides including congestion pricing, driving restrictions, the gasoline tax, and the expansion of public transit have been adopted to address these issues. We develop and estimate a residential location sorting model to examine the interactions of transportation policies and household sorting. The sorting model incorporates commuting decisions and generates equilibrium predictions of household locations under different transportation policies. We estimate the model parameters using a large household travel survey and rich housing transaction data in Beijing. The analysis illustrates the importance of incorporating travel mode choices in household location decisions and the importance of understanding sorting behavior in designing effective transportation policies.

【Introduction of the Lecturer】

Shanjun Li is a professor of environmental and energy economics and sustainable enterprise in the Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management at Cornell University, where he holds the Kenneth L. Robinson Chair of Agricultural Economics and Public Policy. He serves as the co-director of Cornell Institute for China Economic Research (CICER). He is a faculty research fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) and a university fellow at Resources for the Future (RFF). His research areas include environmental and energy economics, empirical industrial organization, and Chinese economy. Currently he is the co-editor of Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists , deputy editor of Resource and Energy Economics and China Economic Review , and a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management .