Voting by speed: federalism and the political economy of transport in modern times (446)

Theme Track: Transportation - Road Pricing

Author:
Maggi, Rico

Tiebout was right: citizens choose an optimal provision of public services via mobility. However, walking is no longer a relevant transport mode. The question discussed in this paper therefore is whether with increasing density and speed performance of transport networks the character of the choice itself has changed. It is proposed here that the optimal provision of public goods today is realize through a combination of high speed mobility and fiscal federalism. High speed permits to profit form spatial spillovers going shopping for publics services by commuting, and fiscal federalism can be exploited to spatially discriminate between financing and provision of services and by that creating the spillovers. A simple economic model is formulated and tested against evidence from Switzerland.

[Home]    [Sitemap]