2015 Theses Doctoral

Essays on Transportation Policies and Their Effects in Beijing

Zhong, Nan

Transportation problems such as traffic congestion and traffic emission draw growing attention along with rapid urbanization and growth of urban transportation sector in developing countries. This dissertation focuses on a series of transportation policies implemented by the government of Beijing and explores their potential effects in the aspect of reducing traffic congestion, improving air quality, and saving energy. This dissertation is composed by three essays. The first essay exploits an idiosyncratic feature of a driving restriction policy and examines the effects of having more vehicles on the road on traffic congestion, ambient air pollution, and contemporaneous health. The findings suggest that traffic congestion has substantial environmental and health externalities in Beijing but that they are also responsive to policy. The second essay explores the effects of opening new subway lines on traffic congestion and ambient air pollution in Beijing. Results show that the expansion of subway networks significantly decreases traffic congestion, and is associated with improvements in air quality in areas located close to the newly opened subway lines. The third essay estimates the price and income elasticities of vehicular gasoline demand to explore the potential effect of fuel tax on transportation gasoline consumption in Beijing.