In an article in Business Oregon, ECONorthwest’s Matthew Kitchen and Dr. Adam Domanski discuss the impacts that time lost while commuting has on business productivity and quality of life. Matthew makes a point that, “As populations and jobs grow, especially in key urban places like Portland, traffic increases, but it’s not necessarily a one-to-one relationship.” Adam highlights that, “Traffic congestion is a classic example of what economists call a negative externality. A growing economy leads to increased traffic, but the individual and social costs of getting out on the road are misaligned. The key would be to find a way to decouple traffic growth from economic growth.”
View the article here.