eprintid: 32164
rev_number: 16
eprint_status: archive
userid: 3114
dir: disk0/00/03/21/64
datestamp: 2022-09-16 12:14:39
lastmod: 2022-09-21 05:32:01
status_changed: 2022-09-16 12:14:39
type: workingPaper
metadata_visibility: show
creators_name: Dangel, Alexander
creators_name: Goeschl, Timo
title: Air Quality Alerts and Don't Drive Appeals: Cautionary Evidence from Germany
subjects: ddc-330
divisions: i-181000
keywords: information-based regulation; voluntary policies; air quality alerts; prosocial behavior; transportation choice
abstract: We study an air quality alert program that informs the public of high ambient air pollution levels and broadcasts a Don't Drive Appeal (DDA) to encourage motorists not to drive on poor air quality days. We use fixed effects panel models and a rigorous sub-sampling method to analyze 28 months of traffic data from Stuttgart, Germany and evaluate whether DDAs reduce driving. We find DDAs inadvertently increase driving by up to 2% in Greater Stuttgart. This overall effect is driven by heightened weekend and periphery traffic during DDAs. Notably, DDAs successfully reduce city center traffic on some weekdays and for the first five days of DDA events. However, estimated traffic reductions never exceed 5% of daily traffic flows, suggesting that high switching costs and dynamic norm factors may deter most motorists from choosing the DDA's desired response. These results provide cautionary evidence about implementing DDAs to reduce driving.
date: 2022-06
id_scheme: DOI
id_number: 10.11588/heidok.00032164
schriftenreihe_cluster_id: sr-3
schriftenreihe_order: 0718
ppn_swb: 1816987867
own_urn: urn:nbn:de:bsz:16-heidok-321644
language: eng
bibsort: DANGELALEXAIRQUALITY20220609
full_text_status: public
series: Discussion Paper Series / University of Heidelberg, Department of Economics
volume: 0718
place_of_pub: Heidelberg
pages: 35
citation:   Dangel, Alexander ; Goeschl, Timo  (2022) Air Quality Alerts and Don't Drive Appeals: Cautionary Evidence from Germany.  [Working paper]     
document_url: https://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/volltextserver/32164/1/Dangl_Goeschl_2022_dp718.pdf