Transportation Economics in the 21st Century - Research Projects

2023 Projects

The fourth and latest call for proposals was posted in January 2023. From a set of 28 submissions, the investigators, in consultation with DOT staff, selected five projects for funding. The funded projects, which were carried out over the 2022-23 and 2023-24 academic years, are:

Can New Transportation Options Alleviate Spatial Mismatch?
Lee G. Branstetter, Carnegie Mellon University and NBER
Beibei Li, Carnegie Mellon University

Role of Public Charging Infrastructure on Electric Vehicle Market Development
Joshua Linn, University of Maryland
Cinzia Cirillo, University of Maryland

Zero Emissions Freight Trucking and Infrastructure Provision
Sarah C. Armitage, Boston University
Ron Yang, University of British Columbia

Remote Work and Urban Transportation in the United States
Prottoy A. Akbar, Aalto University
Victor Couture, University of British Columbia
Gilles Duranton, University of Pennsylvania and NBER
Adam Storeygard, Tufts University and NBER
Shreya Dutt, Boston University

How Do Driver Assistance Technologies Impact Transportation Safety?
Jonathan Hall, University of Alabama
Conor Lennon, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Joshua Madsen, University of Minnesota

2021 Projects

The third call for proposals was disseminated in August 2021. From the 26 proposals that were received, the investigators selected nine projects for funding, once again in consultation with DOT staff and focusing on topics related to the Department's research objectives. The funded projects for the 2021-22 academic year are:

Optimal Charging Infrastructure for Electric Vehicles
Panle Jia Barwick, Cornell University and NBER
Christopher Knittel, MIT and NBER
Shanjun Li, Cornell University and NBER
James Stock, Harvard University and NBER

Port Competition and World Trade
Giulia Brancaccio, NYU and NBER
Myrto Kalouptsidi, Harvard University and NBER
Theodore Papageorgiou, Boston College

Using New Transportation Options to Drive Low-Income Citizens to Greater Success
Lee Branstetter, Carnegie Mellon University and NBER
Beibei Li, Carnegie Mellon University

Household Vehicle Portfolios and EV Demand
Fiona Burlig, University of Chicago and NBER
James Bushnell, University of California, Davis and NBER
David Rapson, University of California, Davis

Political Economy of Transport Investments: Evidence from the California High-Speed Rail
Pablo Fajgelbaum, Princeton University and NBER
Cecile Gaubert, University of California, Berkeley and NBER
Nicole Gorton, University of California, Los Angeles
Eduardo Morales, Princeton University and NBER
Edouard Schaal, Universitat Pompeu Fabra

Eliminating Fares to Expand Opportunities: Experimental Evidence on the Impacts of Free Public Transportation on Economic Disparities
Matthew Freedman, University of California, Irvine
David Phillips, University of Notre Dame

Multimodal Transportation Networks
Simon Fuchs, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta
Woan Foong Wong, University of Oregon

Uncharted Waters: Effects of Maritime Emission Regulation
Michelle Marcus, Vanderbilt University and NBER
Jamie Hansen-Lewis, University of California, Davis

Transportation as a Barrier to Education Access: Evidence from Chicago Public Schools
Cecilia Moreira, Stanford University
Steven Puller, Texas A&M University and NBER
Ini Umosen, University of California, Berkeley

2020 Projects

A second call for proposals was disseminated in October 2020. From the 39 proposals that were received, the investigators selected five projects for funding, once again in consultation with DOT staff and focusing on topics related to the Department's research objectives.  The funded projects for the 2020-21 academic year are:

The Potential of Public Transit: Evidence from Mobile Phone Data
Milena Almagro, University of Chicago
Juan Camilo Castillo, University of Pennsylvania
Tobias Salz, MIT and NBER

The Last Mile Problem: A Grand Transportation Challenge
Peter Christensen, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Lewis Lehe, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Adam Osman, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Regulating Untaxable Externalities: Evidence from Vehicle Air Pollution and Exhaust Standards
Mark Jacobsen, University of California, San Diego and NBER
James Sallee, University of California, Berkeley and NBER
Joseph Shapiro, University of California, Berkeley and NBER
Arthur van Benthem, University of Pennsylvania and NBER

Procurement and Infrastructure Costs
Zachary Liscow, Yale University
Cailin Slattery, Columbia University

Detour Ahead: Market Frictions and Path Dependence in Transportation Networks
Marta Santamaría, University of Warwick
Diana Van Patten, Princeton University

2019 Projects

The call for research proposals was broadly disseminated in October 2019. It resulted in more than 50 submissions, from which the investigators selected six projects for funding in the 2019-20 academic year. The selection process focused on the intrinsic quality and interest of the projects, and was carried out in consultation with staff members at the Department of Transportation. The funded projects, all of which relate to the Department’s current research needs, are:

Traffic in the City: The Impact of Infrastructure Improvements in the Presence of Endogenous Traffic Congestion
Treb Allen, Dartmouth College and NBER
Costas Arkolakis, Yale University and NBER

Mobility and Congestion in US Cities: Evidence from Google Maps
Gilles Duranton, University of Pennsylvania and NBER
Adam Storeygard, Tufts University and NBER
Victor Couture, University of California, Berkeley

How is Ride-Hailing Affecting Public Transportation?
Marco Gonzalez-Navarro, University of California, Berkeley
Jonathan Hall, University of Toronto

Effects of Pavement Maintenance on Traffic Outcomes: Evidence from California
Bradley Humphreys, West Virginia University

Dynamic Transportation Markets in the Digital Economy: Matching Efficiency and the Value of Time
Jakub Kastl, Princeton University and NBER
Nicholas Buchholz, Princeton University
Tobias Salz, MIT and NBER
Laura Doval, California Institute of Technology

Does the US Have an Infrastructure Cost Problem? Evidence from the Interstate Highway System
Neil Mehrotra, Brown University
Matthew Turner, Brown University and NBER