Ezra's Round Table / Systems Seminar: Rick Geddes (PAM, Cornell) - Using Technology to Eliminate Traffic Congestion

Description

Traffic congestion is a pervasive worldwide problem. We explain how to harness existing technologies together with new methods in time-and-location markets to eradicate traffic congestion along with its attendant social harms. Our market design for road use builds on congestion pricing and models of efficient pricing in the electricity sector. The market maximizes the value of a transport network through efficient scheduling, routing and pricing of road use. Privacy and equity concerns are addressed. Transparent price information provides essential information for efficient long-term investment in transport. Bio: Rick Geddes is Professor in the Department of Policy Analysis and Management (PAM) at Cornell University and a core faculty member with the Cornell Institute for Public Affairs (CIPA). Geddes is Founding Director of the Cornell Program in Infrastructure Policy, or CPIP. He is a Visiting Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and a Research Fellow with the Mineta Transportation Institute at San Jose State University. Geddes’ research centers on innovative funding and financing of major infrastructure projects, with a focus on the transportation, water, and energy sectors. Geddes’ publications have appeared in leading academic journals including the American Economic Review, Journal of Regulatory Economics, Journal of Legal Studies, Journal of Law & Economics, and Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, among many others. He is author of the 2011 AEI book entitled, The Road to Renewal: Private Investment in U.S. Transportation Infrastructure. He teaches courses at Cornell on infrastructure policy, corporate governance, microeconomics, and the regulation of industry. Dr. Geddes holds M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in economics from the University of Chicago, and a B.S. in economics and finance from Towson State University.