When Labor Disputes Bring Cities to a Standstill: The Impact of Public Transit Strikes on Traffic, Accidents, Air Pollution, and Health
50 Pages Posted: 7 May 2015
Stefan Bauernschuster
University of Passau - Business Administration and Economics; CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute) - Ifo Institute; IZA Institute of Labor Economics
Timo Hener
Department of Economics and Business Economics; Ifo Institute; CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute) - Ifo Institute
Helmut Rainer
CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute) - Ifo Institute
Date Written: April 29, 2015
Abstract
Many governments have banned strikes in public transportation. Whether this can be justified depends on whether strikes endanger public safety or health. We use time-series and cross-sectional variation in powerful registry data to quantify the effects of public transit strikes on urban populations in Germany. Due to higher traffic volumes and longer travel times, total car hours operated increase by 15% during strikes. This effect is accompanied by a 14% increase in vehicle crashes, a 20% increase in accident-related injuries, a 14% increase in particle pollution, and an 11% increase in hospital admissions for respiratory diseases among young children.
Keywords: public transit, strikes, traffic, air pollution, health
JEL Classification: L910, R410, Q530, I180
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
Stefan Bauernschuster (Contact Author)
University of Passau - Business Administration and Economics ( email )
University of Passau
Innstrasse 27
D-94030 Passau
Germany
CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute) - Ifo Institute ( email )
Poschinger Str. 5
Munich, 81679
Germany
Timo Hener
Department of Economics and Business Economics ( email )
Nordre Ringgade 1
Aarhus, 8000
Denmark
Ifo Institute ( email )
Poschinger Str. 5
Munich, 01069
Germany
CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute) - Ifo Institute ( email )
Poschinger Str. 5
Munich, 01069
Germany
Helmut Rainer
CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute) - Ifo Institute ( email )
Poschinger Str. 5
Munich, 01069
Germany
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