|
on Transport Economics |
| By: | Yanbo Ge; Christopher R. Knittel; Don MacKenzie; Stephen Zoepf |
| Abstract: | Passengers have faced a history of discrimination in transportation systems. Peer transportation companies such as Uber and Lyft present the opportunity to rectify long-standing discrimination or worsen it. We sent passengers in Seattle, WA and Boston, MA to hail nearly 1,500 rides on controlled routes and recorded key performance metrics. Results indicated a pattern of discrimination, which we observed in Seattle through longer waiting times for African American passengers—as much as a 35 percent increase. In Boston, we observed discrimination by Uber drivers via more frequent cancellations against passengers when they used African American-sounding names. Across all trips, the cancellation rate for African American sounding names was more than twice as frequent compared to white sounding names. Male passengers requesting a ride in low-density areas were more than three times as likely to have their trip canceled when they used a African American-sounding name than when they used a white-sounding name. We also find evidence that drivers took female passengers for longer, more expensive, rides in Boston. We observe that removing names from trip booking may alleviate the immediate problem but could introduce other pathways for unequal treatment of passengers. |
| JEL: | J15 J16 R4 |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:22776&r=tre |
| By: | Erik Nesson (Department of Economics, Ball State University); Vinish Shrestha (Department of Economics, Towson University) |
| Abstract: | We examine the effects of false identification laws with a scanner provision (FSP laws) on alcohol-related fatal accidents involving underage drivers using data on traffic fatalities from the National Highway Traffic Administration from 1998 to 2014 and information on alcohol control policies from the Alcohol Policy Information System. We find that the implementation of FSP laws reduced alcohol-related traffic fatalities among 16-18 year olds without a statistically significant change in non alcohol-related fatalities among 16-18 year olds or in alcohol-related fatalities among 21-24 year olds. Our results are stable across a number of different specifications. A back-of-the-envelope calculation suggests that if all remaining states passed FSP laws, the reduction in underage alcohol-related traffic fatalities among 16-18 year olds would generate nearly $250 million in annual economic benefits. |
| Keywords: | Underage alcohol consumption, Drunk driving, DWI, False ID laws, Scanner provision. |
| JEL: | I12 I18 |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tow:wpaper:2016-17&r=tre |
| By: | Correia, Isabel; Melo, Teresa |
| Abstract: | We consider a multi-period facility location problem that takes into account changing trends in customer demands and costs. To this end, new facilities can be established at pre-specified potential locations and initially existing facilities can be closed over a planning horizon. Furthermore, facilities operate with modular capacities that can be expanded or contracted over multiple periods. A distinctive feature of our problem is that two customer segments are considered with different sensitivity to delivery lead times. Customers in the first segment require timely demand satisfaction, whereas customers in the second segment tolerate late deliveries. A tardiness penalty cost is incurred to each unit of demand that is satisfied with delay. We propose two alternative mixed-integer linear formulations to redesign the facility network over the time horizon at minimum cost. Additional inequalities are developed to enhance the original formulations. A computational study is performed with randomly generated instances and using a general-purpose solver. Useful insights are derived from analyzing the impact of several parameters on network redesign decisions and on the overall cost, such as different demand patterns and varying values for the maximum delivery delay tolerated by individual customers. |
| Keywords: | facility location,multi-period,capacity expansion and contraction,delivery lateness,mixed-integer linear models |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:htwlog:11&r=tre |