Dissertation
Three Essays in Applied Microeconomics with Policy Implications on Safety and Environment in Transportation Sectors
Washington State University
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
05/2024
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7273/000006556
Abstract
This collection of essays explores safety and environmental concerns within transportation sectors through applied microeconomics lenses, offering practical policy insights.
The first essay examines the effectiveness of wildlife crossing structures in mitigating wildlife-vehicle collisions, utilizing Washington state crash data from 2011 to 2020. Employing a difference-in-differences methodology, the study reveals that these structures lead to a reduction of one to three collisions per mile per year. The estimated annual benefits per structure range from $235,000 to $443,000 in 2021 U.S. dollars.
The second essay measures consumer demand for environmentally friendly, “Salmon Safe”, tires drawing on survey data collected from 695 vehicle owners in California, Oregon, and Washington. This stated preference study indicates that the median respondent is willing to pay approximately 10% more, or $76, for a set of four reformulated tires. Furthermore, the findings suggest that the mode of information presentation – whether through a narrated video or static text and images – does not affect comprehension, and forced deliberation does not alter consumers’ willingness to pay.
Lastly, the third essay evaluates the efficiency of public resource allocations in urban traffic stops and car accidents, utilizing comprehensive datasets from the Seattle Police Department and the Washington State Department of Transportation. Employing Instrumental Variables (IV) Two-Stage Least Squares (2SLS) and IV Poisson Generalized Method of Moments (GMM)
approaches, the findings suggest that more traffic stops lead to fewer accidents. Additionally, there is geographic heterogeneity in the impact of increasing traffic stops on areas with at least one accident. Downtown locations and areas with higher daily traffic are associated with larger reductions in accidents, while more affluent areas are related to fewer reductions. This study highlights the importance of targeted resource allocation strategies, contributing to the discussions on place-based policies.
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Details
- Title
- Three Essays in Applied Microeconomics with Policy Implications on Safety and Environment in Transportation Sectors
- Creators
- Wisnu Sugiarto
- Contributors
- Jia Yan (Chair)Joseph Cook (Committee Member)Eric Jessup (Committee Member)Wesley Blundell (Committee Member)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Economic Sciences, School of
- Theses and Dissertations
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
- Publisher
- Washington State University
- Number of pages
- 205
- Identifiers
- 99901121439701842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Dissertation