Journal of Transport and Land Use 2:1 (Fall 2008) pp. 153–182 Available at http://jtlu.org Equity impacts of transportation improvements on core and peripheral cities Eran Leck Technion–Israel Institute of Technology a Shlomo Bekhor Technion–Israel Institute of Technology b Daniel Gat Technion–Israel Institute of Technologyc Abstract: is paper assesses the short-term impact of transportation improvements on the reduction of socio-economic disparities between core and peripheral cities using data extracted from the 1995 Israel Census. e methodology applied in the study estimates discrete choice models in order to identify key variables affecting commuting decisions. Policy simulations are employed to illustrate the effect of diminishing spatial friction on wage convergence between poor southern towns and affluent core cities. e empirical evidence suggests that transporta- tion improvements, especially in the form of introducing new rail links in underserved cities, could signicantly contribute to the alleviation of spatial wage disparities between core and peripheral cities. Keywords: Transportation improvements; Economic equity; Wage disparities; Discrete choice. 1 Introduction Recent years have seen a growing interest in the mechanisms linking a barrier-free geography and economic efficiency and equity. A common claim made by many ur- ban economists, regional planners and transportation scientists is that transportation improvements extend the borders of isolated labor markets, thus contributing to en- hanced welfare by widening the scope of opportunities for disadvantaged communities (Rietveld 1989; Garrison 1994, Banister and Licheld 1995; Fox 2001). a
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[email protected] Copyright 2008 Eran Leck, Shlomo Bekhor, and Daniel Gat.