Abstract
The supply of public parking in urban areas is often considerable – making parking prices and supply a possible regulation tool for car use and ownership in urban areas, affecting the level of related externalities.
This paper investigates the causal effect of parking regulation on car ownership, including type of car and car use, using the introduction of residential parking in Oslo as a natural experiment. From 2017 to 2021, several districts in Oslo introduced residential parking, where residents are now obligated to pay a minor annual fee for more available parking while visitors must pay an hourly fee. Variation in introduction timing between districts is observed, i.e., a case of staggered adoption where a staggered differences-in-differences framework is used for identification. Furthermore, a unique dataset with households as observational units and information regarding residential parking implementation is applied.
Results from this study show how residential parking, intended to make parking more available for residents, does so. The expected availability effect is significant through the increase in car use – regardless of whether it is a conventional or electric car. The increase in car use stems from both new ownerships, i.e., households that did not own a car before, and increased use of already car owners. Hence, for residents isolated, the externalities are expected to increase. Furthermore, not intentionally, the policy makes conventional cars preferable to electric cars in urban areas – as the number of electric cars reduces relative to a situation without residential parking. These findings have significant implications for policymakers and urban planners, giving them a deeper understanding of the unintended consequences of residential parking policies on car ownership and use patterns.
The seminar will be held in room 1249 (12th floor) at Eilert Sundts Hus. The address is Moltke Moes vei 31.