A reservation-based parking behavioral model for parking demand management in urban areas

The rapid increase in car ownership has become a land-use problem in many cities which have limited land for parking. It also has adverse impacts on congestion, air quality, energy consumption, as well as losses in productivity, among other consequences. The problem worsens in some cities due to the adoption of inefficient mandatory minimum parking policies for new projects, according to a building's use and size, which incentivizes driving. Therefore, it is necessary to assess appropriate parking management policies that maximize social welfare. In this regard, this paper presents a reservation-based parking behavioral hybrid choice model for parking demand management policies in urban areas, that appropriately represents the behavior of private vehicle users when choosing their parking site. The proposed model is statistically significant and consistent with expected behavior and microeconomic theory. The results demonstrate that the possibility of reserving a parking space has a significant impact on car parking market share on- and off-street. The three latent variables included in the model (pro-parking attitude, perception of risk for parking on- and off-street) have a significant effect on the modal split and the evaluation of appropriate parking policies that consider heterogeneity. The latent variable that most impacts the modal shift is the pro-parking attitude, which can generate up to 7% change in the modal partition.     

Downtown curbside parking capacity

Current debates on downtown parking policy have been concentrating on downtown parking pricing, while overlooking downtown parking capacity. This paper focuses on how much curbside to allocate to parking when the private sector provides garage parking. In the first-best optimum, no cruising for parking occurs, and only curbside parking is provided when demand is low relative to street capacity, both curbside parking and garage parking are provided when demand in intermediate, and only garage parking is provided when demand is high. In the second-best optimum where curbside parking is underpriced, cruising for parking occurs only when both curbside and garage parking are both present. As the fee differential between garage and curbside parking increases, cruising for parking becomes more severe, and the range of demand levels over which curbside and garage parking are both present shrinks and eventually disappears.     

Parking location and transit demand: A case study of endogenous attributes in disaggregate mode choice models

This paper discusses a simultaneous model of transport mode choice and optimal parking location for the auto mode. In developing this model, four extensions of disaggregate choice theory are made that should be useful in other applications. These extensions are: (1) the formulation of an econometric model that allows for continous endogenous attributes in discrete choice decisions; (2) the use of an econometric estimation technique that is implementable using existing computer programs; (3) the development of an explicit reduced form expansion path cost model of location decisions; and (4) the extension of aggregation procedures to predict both transit demand and the spatial distribution of parking.     

停车位的供需矛盾及其解决方略

针对我国城市停车供需矛盾突出这一问题,从深层次分析原因,认为应该从城市可持续发展的高度,结合机动化发展战略,在立法、公共政策和技术标准制定,以及停车设施规划、建设和管理等方面,系统地提出解决问题的对策;在倡导"公交优先"的同时,应提出限制私人轿车拥有和使用的政策;对城市公共停车设施应进行统筹规划,统一建设,并将城市公共停车设施作为公共物品纳入城市交通基础设施建设;城市停车设施应以公共停车设施为主,严格限制专用停车设施和商品化停车泊位,以提高城市停车设施的利用率。     

井筒式地下停车场工作机制浅析

近些年机动车保有量迅速增长,相比于城市停车建筑的建设滞后的情况相矛盾,一方面机动车数量快速增加但规划建设车位严重不足,另一方面随着城市发展土地资源有限,停车管理体制缺乏统筹,因此合理充分利用地下空间资源必然是未来解决停车难的趋势和有效解决途径。     

The Choice of Accounting Policy In Japan

The purpose of this study is to investigate factors which potentially influence Japanese managers' choices of accounting policies. Several factors have been posed to affect the choice of accounting policy of U.S. managers (e.g., Watts and Zimmerman's (1986) positive accounting theory). However, the general business characteristics of the U.S. environment differ, sometimes drastically, from those in Japan. Factors affecting the choice of accounting policy in the U.S. may not similarly affect the choice of accounting policy in Japan. At the same time, new factors may be identified in the Japanese business environment.
Income strategy models are developed for each firm according to the type (income increasing or income decreasing) of accounting policies employed. The results suggest that both the size and debt/equity hypotheses are significant, even for keiretsu firms. These results are surprising given (1) the close relationship between firms and the government, (2) regulations of the commercial code which serve to protect the interests of debtholders, and (3) the tight relationship between banks and firms within keiretsu groups which protects firms from bankruptcy and takeover. Variables representing firms' effective tax rate, ability to finance operations internally, and foreign political costs are also shown to significantly affect Japanese managers' choices of accounting policy. The bonus hypothesis is not significant in the Japanese environment. Furthermore, the choice of accounting policy is explained more by individual firm characteristics than by keiretsu membership or industry membership.     

Integrating fundamental model uncertainty in policy analysis: A Bayesian averaging approach combining CGE-models with metamodeling techniques

Sustainable economic development in the future is driven by public policy on regional, national and global levels. Therefore a comprehensive policy analysis is needed that provides consistent and effective policy support. However, a general problem facing classical policy analysis is model uncertainty. All actors, those involved in the policy choice and those in the policy analysis, are fundamentally uncertain which of the different models corresponds to the true generative mechanism that represents the natural, economic, or social phenomena on which policy analysis is focused. In this paper, we propose a general framework that explicitly incorporates model uncertainty into the derivation of a policy choice. Incorporating model uncertainty into the analysis is limited by the very high required computational effort. In this regard, we apply metamodeling techniques as a way to reduce computational complexity. We demonstrate the effect of different metamodel types using a reduced model for the case of CAADP in Senegal. Furthermore, we explicitly show that ignoring model uncertainty leads to inefficient policy choices and results in a large waste of public resources.     

Earnings Management to Influence Tax Policy: Evidence from Large Malaysian Firms

This study investigates the link between effective tax rates (ETR) and earnings management in a non‐Western context. It examines the use of accounting choice by Malaysian firms in response to an anticipated change in tax policy. We predict and find that large Malaysian firms with low effective tax rates decrease book income prior to a reduction in corporate tax in order to influence tax policy. Our empirical results are consistent with prior evidence in the US, that firms use accounting choice to realize economic objectives. The Malaysian evidence suggests that the result of a positive association between ETR and earnings management can be generalized outside the US context.     

An integrated model of downtown parking and traffic congestion

This paper is the first to look at cruising for parking from an economic perspective. We present a downtown parking model that integrates traffic congestion and saturated on-street parking; the stock of cars cruising for parking adds to traffic congestion. Two major results emerge from the model, one of which is robust. The robust one is that, whether or not the amount of on-street parking is optimal, it is efficient to raise the on-street parking fee to the point where cruising for parking is eliminated without parking becoming unsaturated. The other is that, if the parking fee is fixed at a sub-optimal level, it is second-best optimal to increase the amount of curbside allocated to parking until cruising for parking is eliminated without parking becoming unsaturated     

Voting on road congestion policy

This paper studies the political economy of urban traffic policy. A city council and a regional government (representing city and suburbs) decide respectively on parking fees and a road toll. Both charges are below the optimum when median voters in city and suburbs prefer cars to public transport sufficiently more than the average. Even if the city government would set an optimal road toll, the regional government blocks it when the median suburban voter prefers cars strongly enough. Letting the city control parking and road pricing may therefore increase chances of adoption of the latter. However, if the city controls parking and the region road pricing, the combined charges are higher than if the city controlled them both. Hence, when voters want all charges below the optimum, the involvement of two governments may be desirable. We also find that earmarking road pricing revenues for public transport is welfare-enhancing, compared to lump-sum redistribution, only if they are topped up by extra funds granted to the city by a higher level of government.     

An integrated model of downtown parking and traffic congestion

This paper is the first to look at cruising for parking from an economic perspective. We present a downtown parking model that integrates traffic congestion and saturated on-street parking; the stock of cars cruising for parking adds to traffic congestion. Two major results emerge from the model, one of which is robust. The robust one is that, whether or not the amount of on-street parking is optimal, it is efficient to raise the on-street parking fee to the point where cruising for parking is eliminated without parking becoming unsaturated. The other is that, if the parking fee is fixed at a sub-optimal level, it is second-best optimal to increase the amount of curbside allocated to parking until cruising for parking is eliminated without parking becoming unsaturated     

An integral model for the implementation of environmental policy strategy

This article responds to demands for a more in‐depth study on how to implement an environmental policy strategy (EPS). Following the strategic choice framework, this study seeks to address this issue by testing a theoretical model of several managerial and organisational variables associated with a firm's EPS. The managerial variables examined include managers' perceptions of environmental pressures, managers' consciousness of environmental problems, and managers' perceptions of the potential benefits associated with the implementation of an EPS. The organisational variables that are investigated relate to the structure, systems, and processes of the representative organisations. Control variables include the firm's industrial sector, its country of origin, its size, and its international character. A model based on structural equations with the weighted least squares estimation method is used to test the hypotheses in a large sample of firms. The results confirm the need to consider a multidisciplinary view of the implementation of an EPS.     

低碳生态控制性详细规划的成本效益分析

公共政策手段必然有其成本,低碳生态城市规划政策也不例外。政策手段带来的成本与效益需要有科学性及客观的分析,才会帮助政府在制定政策及建设项目时提高社会整体经济效率,达到优化经济资源之目的。本文提出需要对低碳城市规划和建设手段进行成本效益分析的必要性,要从科学客观角度建立低碳城市成本效益理论和方法,应用评估低碳城市规划建设政策和投资决定。并针对我国城乡规划体制内具有法定效力的控制性详细规划管理手段,提出在实施低碳生态城市控制指标时要考虑产生的经济成本与效益,以近期完成的石家庄正定新区低碳生态控制性详细规划方案解释。     

A zero-inflated ordered probit model,with an application to modelling tobacco consumption

Data for discrete ordered dependent variables are often characterised by “excessive” zero observations which may relate to two distinct data generating processes. Traditional ordered probit models have limited capacity in explaining this preponderance of zero observations. We propose a zero-inflated ordered probit model using a double-hurdle combination of a split probit model and an ordered probit model. Monte Carlo results show favourable performance in finite samples. The model is applied to a consumer choice problem of tobacco consumption indicating that policy recommendations could be misleading if the splitting process is ignored.     

Location decisions of knowledge-based entrepreneurs: Why some Catalan KISAs choose to be rural?

Entrepreneurship has currently become an important element of economic development and innovation policy. In this context, the promotion of knowledge-based firms has become the norm, even in rural areas. Thus, the study presented in this paper analyses the variables that influence the choice of location made by rural and urban knowledge intensive service activity firms (KISA, hereafter). The results of the quantitative study allows for important policy making recommendations, but also offers significant contributions for entrepreneurship and regional development researchers, as well as practical insights for entrepreneurs.     

城市公共停车场规划评价指标体系解析

为了确定符合交通发展战略、技术先进和合理可行的停车场规划方案,从停车场使用者、经营者、周边居民和政府四个不同的角度,建立和解析了城市公共停车场规划评价指标体系,为停车场规划方案的科学选优提供了决策依据.     

Bertrand competition with capacity constraints: mergers among parking lots

To analyze the effects of mergers among firms facing capacity constraints, we develop a numerical model of price-setting behavior among multi-product firms differentiated by location and capacity. We perform a number of computational experiments designed to inform merger policy, with specific reference to the Central Parking–Allright merger of 1999. The experiments show that capacity constraints on merging firms attenuate merger effects by much more than capacity constraints on non-merging firms amplify them. The experiments also highlight the dependence of merger welfare effects on parking demand. In preparation for further industry consolidation, we propose estimators of parking demand to more precisely estimate the costs and benefits of future mergers.     

Formulation and implementation of a pricing policy for municipal parking

The efficient allocation of a municipally-owned resource, like automobile parking space, requires a long-term policy that recognizes the social, technical, economic and political realities of the system. This paper develops such a policy, and reviews the progress in implementing it in a medium size city over a 3 yr period. An analysis of the interim results finds a significant increase in revenue to the City, some progress toward a socially desirable allocation of space and evidence that further progress is continuing.Much of the success in implementing the recommended policy was attributed to the small number of links in the chain of decision-makers and to having essentially the same group of people involved with the project over an extended period of time. With an understandable, well-developed and logical policy to follow, rational decisionmaking could proceed in small steps, thereby building consensus by reducing uncertainty about the ultimate impact of the recommended course of action. This type of policy formulation and implementation is analogous to programmed learning.     

城市竞争背景下的规划管理政策研究

针对经济全球化背景下城市竞争所呈现出的双面性,从城市规划管理的角度出发,提出在保障宏观政策稳定的同时,建立迅速、有效的规划管理政策研究机构以应对瞬息万变的市场,是城市发展在竞争环境中的现实选择,并在研究内容及机构组织等方面建构了完整的政策研究机制。     

Regulating the environment: Changing from constraint to gentle coercion

This article examines the changes in regulatory practices which have taken place in Denmark over the last twenty years. Danish environmental policy has been subject to several rounds of regulatory reform, aimed at streamlining existing regulation and making it more effective. Several new policy instruments have in this process been added to the regulatory repertoire, increasing the flexibility of the regulatory system. The strategic approach to the development and implementation of environmental policy, adopted by the Danish government, marks a change of regulatory regime, i.e. a change in the way environmental problems are perceived and in the choice of instruments to remedy these problems. The article argues that this is the result of the regulatory learning processes, and that the emerging regulatory regime, based on cooperation, represents a different way of harnessing the market forces than traditionally advocated. The article concludes that this regulatory regime opens up for a more systemic approach to preventing pollution.