externalities

Transportation planning decisions often involve trade-offs between various economic impacts, including direct user costs, and various external costs imposed on other people. All of these impacts should be considered in planning analysis.

December 23, 2019 - Todd Litman

A new report shows that London's new emission fee, an additional driver charge that became operational 24/7 in April for all motor vehicles not meeting Euro standards that enter the congestion charge zone, has cut nitrogen oxide emissions by 31%.

October 29, 2019 - Smart Cities Dive

The Nobel Prize was issued the same day as a landmark report by the IPCC predicting dire consequences if emissions aren't reduced. That's what William D. Nordhaus of Yale University has devoted his career to addressing.

October 9, 2018 - The New York Times

Congestion pricing, done right (details matter), mitigates a downside of urban density: traffic congestion. Professor John Rennie Short explores the history of congestion pricing, its application in Singapore and London, and why it's good for NYC.

February 13, 2018 - The Conversation

By defining "externalities" as impacts of private conduct, economists and lawyers bias public discussion in favor of government regulation.

October 16, 2017 - Michael Lewyn

Urbanists, test your knowledge of urban economics. Familiar with the concept of agglomeration externality? Finance professor and Bloomberg View writer Noah Smith opines it's a major reason why American cities are not as productive as they should be.

May 9, 2016 - Bloomberg View

A wealthy county in Virginia has a reputation for prohibiting the construction of new housing. Development interests, however, are fed up with anti-development arguments.

July 10, 2015 - The Washington Post

A new report from the Congressional Budget Office places the spotlight on the trucking industry in terms of the social, health ,and environmental costs it imposes on society but does not pay for, i.e., externalities.

June 8, 2015 - City Observatory City Commentary

An IMF working paper determined that global energy subsidies totaled $5.3 trillion this year, the worst offenders are China and the U.S. Placing a price on these subsidies, which include air pollution and carbon emissions, may be key to mitigation.

May 20, 2015 - Reuters

California's cap-and-trade market saw its largest carbon sale, $1.02 billion, thanks to millions of motorists now paying about a dime a gallon for the right to emit carbon for the first time since the program began in November 2012.

March 3, 2015 - The Sacramento Bee

A blogger writes that bike advocates should think outside the bike lane to bike parking facilities—only when the costs of biking are externalized will a critical mass adopt biking.

December 18, 2014 - Bike Portland

(NOTE TO READERS: An expanded, footnote-filled version of this article is online at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1632935 )   Externalities are costs (or benefits) imposed on third parties by another individual’s voluntary action.  Government regulations exist at least partially to protect us from externalities created by others.

July 1, 2010 - Michael Lewyn

The National Academy of Science has released a report showing that health effects from burning fossil fuels cost the economy about $120 billion a year. Global warming was not included due to uncertainty, so it's focused mostly on air pollution.

October 27, 2009 - The New York Times - Environment

One justification for municipal minimum parking requirements is the danger of “spillover parking”: the fear that if Big Brother does not force businesses to build huge parking lots, that business’s customers will “spill over” into neighboring businesses or residential neighborhoods, thus reducing the parking available to the latter group.  For example, if Wal-Mart doesn’t build a thousand parking spaces, maybe Wal-Mart’s customers will park at Mom’n’Pop Groceries down the street, thus reducing the parking available to Mom’n’Pop customers.

May 20, 2009 - Michael Lewyn