ROAD CONGESTION: THE DIAGRAMMATIC ANALYSIS

This paper is a commentary on an article by De Meza and Gould (1987) that discusses the change in income distribution resulting when a common property resource, to which everyone formerly had free access, is taken into private ownership. The author of this commentary takes issue with the De Meza and Gould example that applied to the use of a congested road. In their analysis of the problem, De Meza and Gould use what appears to a reader to be the standard graphical analysis of a problem involving demand and supply. However, the author believes it is incorrect to apply the graphical approach in this form to the analysis of road congestion and, in showing that their conclusion is incorrect, shows that the conventional graphical approach is incorrect as well. The author attempts to prove his contention by showing that the conventional graphical analysis of the economics of road congestion may be incorrect if a conventional downward sloping demand curve is drawn relating traffic flow to cost.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/00223808
• Corporate Authors:

  University of Chicago Press

  1427 E. 60th Street
  Chicago, IL  United States  60637-2954
• Authors:
  • EVANS, A W
• Publication Date: 1992-2

Language

• English

Media Info

• Features: Figures; References;
• Pagination: p. 211-217
• Serial:
  • Journal of Political Economy
  • Volume: 100
  • Issue Number: 1
  • Publisher: University of Chicago Press
  • ISSN: 0022-3808

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Demand; Highway transportation; Highway travel; Privatization; Supply; Traffic congestion; Travelers
• Uncontrolled Terms: Graphical analysis; Income distribution
• Subject Areas: Economics; Geotechnology; Highways; Society; I10: Economics and Administration;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00791385
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Apr 13 2000 12:00AM