Free Public Transport: More Jobs without Environmental Damage?

• Tác giả: Daniel Da Mata, Vitor Possebom, Mateus Rodrigues
• Ngôn ngữ: eng
• Ký hiệu phân loại: 354.769 +Urban mass transportation
• Thông tin xuất bản: 2024
• Bộ sưu tập: Metadata
• ID: 204446

Tóm tắt

We study the effects of a free-fare transport policy implemented by Brazilian localities on employment and greenhouse gas emissions. Using a staggered difference-in-differences approach, we find that fare-free transit increases employment by 3.2% and reduces emissions by 4.1%, indicating that transport policies can decouple economic activity from environmental damage. Our results are driven by workers transitioning from higher-emission to lower-emission sectors instead of being driven by a decline in private transportation use. Cost-benefit analyses suggest that the costly policy only presents net benefits after considering the tax inflows of the increased economic activity and the benefits of reduced carbon emissions.