Autonomous vehicles work. They are already replacing full-time service drivers in Uber, Lyft, and taxis. Delivery vehicles might come soon. Corporate fleet vehicles. And the big jump, of course, will be when they're available as private vehicles. It's possible that the costs are high enough … [Read more...]
Private Buses: Econtalk Takes A Second look at Santiago
Back a couple years ago, I noted an Econtalk podcast with Russell Roberts and Duke University Professor Mike Munger on the private bus system in Santiago, Chile. This week's episode starts with Munger's update on the Santiago transportation system after visiting for three weeks and spending a lot … [Read more...]
Urban[ism] Legend: Traffic Planning
Mathieu Helie at Emergent Urbanism posted a link to a interesting game created at the University of Minnesota. Mathieu explains it better than I can: The game begins in the Stalinian Central Bureau of Traffic Control, where a wrinkly old man pulls you out of your job at the mail room to come … [Read more...]
How Pricing Tolls Right Eliminates Congestion
Chris Bradford over at Austin Contrarian has been making some solid points in favor of congestion pricing. (here, here, here and here) Chris’s core argument in favor of congestion tolling is that: congestion pricing does more than relieve congestion. Congestion pricing tells us when a road needs … [Read more...]
Irrationality Towards Shortages
Brendan Crain at Where tipped me off to a great post by Ryan Avent at The Bellows. Here's a little snippet of Shortage: For whatever reason, we’re not built to naturally internalize negative externalities. When riding on a crowded highway, no one (no non-economist, at any rate) curses the … [Read more...]
Unintended Consequences of Stop Signs
The latest edition of the Atlantic Monthly features an article by John Staddon, a Professor of psychology and brain sciences at Duke University. The article discusses some of the differences in how the US and Britain regulates traffic and how there are unintended consequences to over-regulation. … [Read more...]