To drive or not to drive? A simple evolutionary model

Antoci, Angelo and Borghesi, Simone and Marletto, Gerardo (2012): To drive or not to drive? A simple evolutionary model.

Abstract

Car use is an increasingly serious problem in many modern cities because of polluting emissions, noise, accidents and congestion. To examine this issue, this paper analyzes the individual choice between taking the car and using alternative transport modes (e.g. walking, cycling, taking the bus etc...) in the presence of cars' negative impacts on alternative transport modes. Using a simple evolutionary model, we show the existence of suboptimal Nash equilibria characterized by the widespread use of cars and discuss the effects of simple transport policies that reduce cars' negative impacts on alternative transport modes.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: urban transport; cars; negative impacts; evolutionary dynamics; suboptimal Nash equilibria
• Subjects: R - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics > R4 - Transportation Economics > R40 - General; D - Microeconomics > D6 - Welfare Economics > D62 - Externalities; R - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics > R4 - Transportation Economics > R41 - Transportation: Demand, Supply, and Congestion ; Travel Time ; Safety and Accidents ; Transportation Noise; C - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods > C7 - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory > C73 - Stochastic and Dynamic Games ; Evolutionary Games ; Repeated Games

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