Working Papers by Benjamin Carantino
PSE Working Paper, 2020
We study the welfare implications of the interplay between public good agglomeration economies an... more We study the welfare implications of the interplay between public good agglomeration economies and heterogeneous location preferences in an economic geography framework. Using data on French cities, we first present new stylized facts suggesting scale economies in the consumption of local public goods. We then build a spatial equilibrium model with mobile workers and endogenous public goods and characterize the transfers implementing efficient population distribution. We show that heterogeneity in location preferences increases the equity cost of migration (transfers) relatively to its efficiency benefits (agglomeration gains) such that Pareto-improving reforms may not always exist. Investigating the Pareto efficiency of current French transfers, we empirically show that ignoring location preferences leads to recommending reforms that mistakenly redistribute towards the densest and richest places. Finally, we argue that the interaction between public good scale economies and location preferences may raise horizontal equity concerns about public good consumption, and find evidence that the French planner compensates low-density areas beyond a utilitarian objective.
PSE Working Paper, 2020
By integrating social equity concerns and deviating from a traditionally more utilitarian design ... more By integrating social equity concerns and deviating from a traditionally more utilitarian design of transport networks, can cities reduce spatial inequalities ? This paper relies on an extensive multi-city Light Rail Transit (LRT) building program of the last two decades in France as well as a novel geocoded individual unemployed database to assess the effects of opening of a new transport option on individual unemployment trajectories and local social mixity. We find no evidence of any improvement in individual unemployment trajectories of the residents of the treated neighborhoods around the arrival of LRT. In the medium term we find effects on the housing market consistent with capitalization of accessibility gains as well as a change in income composition of renters although gentrification is limited by the large share of social housings.
The Carbon ‘Carprint’ of Suburbanization: New Evidence from French Cities
CEPR Discussion Papers, 2018
This paper investigates the impact of urban form on households’ fuel consumption and car emission... more This paper investigates the impact of urban form on households’ fuel consumption and car emissions in France. We analyze more particularly three features of cities commonly referred to as the ‘3 D’s’ (Cervero & Kockelman 1997): Density, Design and an innovative measure of Diversity.
Individual data allow us to circumvent sorting, as some households may live in a location consonant to their socioeconomic characteristics or travel predispositions, while instrumental variables help control for other endogeneity issues. The results suggest that, by choosing to live at the fringe of a metropolitan area instead of its city-center, our sample mean-household would bear an extra-consumption of approximatively six fuel tanks per year. More generally, doubling residential Density would result in an annual saving of approximatively two tanks per household, a gain that would be much larger if compaction were coupled with better Design (stronger
jobs centralization, improved rail-routes or buses transiting to job centers and reduced pressure for road construction), and more Diversity (continuous morphology of the built-up environment).
Another important finding is that the relationship between metropolitan population and car emissions is bell-shaped in France, contrary to the US, which suggests that small cities do compensate lack of Density by either a better Design or more Diversity.
Published Papers by Benjamin Carantino
Thèse de Doctorat, Oct 7, 2021
Résultat d’une compétition pour l'accès aux bénéfices de la densité, l'économie spatiale est natu... more Résultat d’une compétition pour l'accès aux bénéfices de la densité, l'économie spatiale est naturellement le support et le creuset de fortes inégalités. Les infrastructures de transport, et notamment les transports en commun, jouent un rôle majeur dans la structuration de celles-ci puisque c'est par elles que les habitants des lieux éloignés peuvent accéder aux espaces centraux bénéficiaires d'économies d'agglomération. Rien d'étonnant dès lors à ce que les enjeux d'équité prennent une forme spatiale et impliquent les infrastructures. Trois des plus importants mouvements sociaux des deux dernières décennies - les émeutes de 2005, les Bonnets Rouges de 2013 et les Gilets Jaunes de 2019 - ont pris racine dans des revendications d'équité spatiale, souvent associées à l'organisation -ou au prix- des transports. L'économie spatiale peut rencontrer deux types d'enjeux d'équité. L'équité verticale qui correspond à l'égalité de traitement entre ménages disposant de ressources différentes et l'équité horizontale, qui correspond à l'égalité de traitement entre ménages disposant des mêmes ressources. La première est surtout en jeu à l'intérieur des villes, puisque le marché du logement y agit comme un mécanisme de tri spatial qui organise la position des ménages par rapport aux équipements et agglomérations en fonction de leurs revenus. La seconde est surtout en jeu entre les villes, puisqu'elles peuvent être différemment dotées en biens publics et en particulier en infrastructures de transport selon leur taille, à population similaire. Dans un contexte d'accélération de la concentration des activités et des emplois dans les grandes métropoles, de renforcement de la ségrégation urbaine, et d’une possible augmentation des coûts de transport liée à l'augmentation de la fiscalité du carbone, ces enjeux d'équité pourraient devenir plus saillants dans les prochaines décennies. Cette thèse examine trois aspects de l'équité spatiale, à travers le prisme des infrastructures de transport. Les deux premiers chapitres évaluent si l'investissement dans les infrastructures de transport doit viser à satisfaire les enjeux d'équité verticale au sein des villes ou d'équité horizontale entre villes. Le troisième chapitre applique les réflexions des deux premiers à l'acceptabilité de la taxe carbone, et s'interroge sur la possibilité de mobiliser des politiques urbaines, en particulier de transport et d'aménagement urbain, pour répondre aux problèmes d'équité spatiale liés à l'introduction d'une telle taxe.
PhD Thesis, Oct 7, 2021
Three of the largest social unrests of the last two decades in France - the 2005 suburban riots, ... more Three of the largest social unrests of the last two decades in France - the 2005 suburban riots, the 2013 Bonnets Rouges and the 2019 Gilets Jaunes movements- were directly associated with claims for spatial justice. It is actually no surprise that equity claims could take a spatial form and involve transportation. Cities are highly unequal structures, being the site of a spatial competition for access to the benefits of density. Transportation infrastructures, and especially public transit, plays a major role in organizing spatial inequalities, since they provide distant land with access to urban agglomeration economies. Without access to transportation, one could not enjoy a full citizenship. Two types of equity issues may be at stake in the spatial economy. Vertical equity, that regards equal treatment between households with different resources, is particularly salient within cities, since the housing market sorts incomes by distance to amenities and agglomeration economies. Horizontal equity, that regards equal treatment between households with similar resources and income, is of particular concern between cities, since the availability of transportation infrastructure, and especially public transport, conditions access to urban benefits for many urbanites. In a context of reinforced urban segregation, acceleration of the concentration of activity and jobs in large metropolis, and rise of transportation costs that could result of the generalization of the carbon tax, such vertical and horizontal equity claims may become more salient in the next decades. This thesis examines three aspects of spatial equity, through the particular scope of transportation infrastructure. The first two chapters assess whether public transit investment should be directed to mitigate vertical equity claims within cities or horizontal equity claims between cities. The third chapter applies the reflections of the first two chapters to the specific case of the fuel carbon tax acceptability and wonders whether urban policies could answer spatial equity issues associated with such a tax
The carbon ‘carprint’ of urbanization: New evidence from French cities
Regional Science and Urban Economics
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Working Papers by Benjamin Carantino
Individual data allow us to circumvent sorting, as some households may live in a location consonant to their socioeconomic characteristics or travel predispositions, while instrumental variables help control for other endogeneity issues. The results suggest that, by choosing to live at the fringe of a metropolitan area instead of its city-center, our sample mean-household would bear an extra-consumption of approximatively six fuel tanks per year. More generally, doubling residential Density would result in an annual saving of approximatively two tanks per household, a gain that would be much larger if compaction were coupled with better Design (stronger
jobs centralization, improved rail-routes or buses transiting to job centers and reduced pressure for road construction), and more Diversity (continuous morphology of the built-up environment).
Another important finding is that the relationship between metropolitan population and car emissions is bell-shaped in France, contrary to the US, which suggests that small cities do compensate lack of Density by either a better Design or more Diversity.
Published Papers by Benjamin Carantino
Individual data allow us to circumvent sorting, as some households may live in a location consonant to their socioeconomic characteristics or travel predispositions, while instrumental variables help control for other endogeneity issues. The results suggest that, by choosing to live at the fringe of a metropolitan area instead of its city-center, our sample mean-household would bear an extra-consumption of approximatively six fuel tanks per year. More generally, doubling residential Density would result in an annual saving of approximatively two tanks per household, a gain that would be much larger if compaction were coupled with better Design (stronger
jobs centralization, improved rail-routes or buses transiting to job centers and reduced pressure for road construction), and more Diversity (continuous morphology of the built-up environment).
Another important finding is that the relationship between metropolitan population and car emissions is bell-shaped in France, contrary to the US, which suggests that small cities do compensate lack of Density by either a better Design or more Diversity.