Category Archives: News

Evaluating New York City’s Congestion Pricing: A Shift Toward Public Transportation

By Felix Field and Brandon Kahn

Congestion pricing is a relatively uncommon policy worldwide, but a few major cities—such as Stockholm, London, Milan, and New York—have implemented it in recent years. This policy charges drivers a toll for entering specific high-traffic areas. The primary goal is to reduce traffic congestion by discouraging personal vehicle use and encouraging public transportation. In addition to easing urban gridlock, congestion pricing can also improve air quality by lowering carbon emissions from cars and motorcycles. Although only a few cities have adopted it, congestion pricing has the potential to significantly enhance urban life if implemented effectively.

On January 5, 2025, New York City implemented congestion pricing. In the case of New York City, the tax is paid when you enter the “Congestion Relief Zone,” which covers all of Manhattan below 60th Street. The toll paid upon entering the zone is also based on the time of day, with higher prices during rush hour and lower prices during the late hours of the day. Additionally, the revenue generated by the tax will then go towards MTA improvements that will improve public transportation in the future. Overall, if the tax effectively reduces traffic and increases the use of public transportation, it would be extremely beneficial to New York City, and many other cities may also benefit from implementing such a policy. 

Among other cities that have already implemented congestion pricing, London has continued to see positive results after around 20 years of implementation. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, “Congestion charging in London improves efficiency, reduces pollution, and raises revenue for transit improvements,” with automobile traffic having declined by about 20% compared to before congestion pricing. (Congestion pricing in London). Just like London, New York is a populous city with an effective public transportation system. By implementing congestion pricing, NYC could also see a reduction in pollution and traffic along with an increase in public revenue. Continue reading

The World Cup Dilemma: Prestige at a Price?

By Alexander Kenerson and Henry Mariscal

The World Cup captures the world’s attention and unites fans around the most popular sport on the planet. Featuring the top players from 32 nations, it stands as the pinnacle of international soccer competition. The World Cup has a big influence on national economies through increased tourism, infrastructure investment, and short-term boosts to consumption. Studying it can reveal how large-scale events impact GDP, employment, and economic growth. The World Cup occurs once every four years, gaining the attention of over 1 billion viewers. Brazil was announced the host for the 2014 World Cup in 2007, while Qatar was announced as the host of the 2022 World Cup in 2010. Qatar is a small but wealthy country for its size due to its exports of oil and gas, while Brazil is a very large country with a focus on services. We are studying the effects that hosting a World Cup had on Brazil and Qatar’s labor market and economic growth. We hypothesize that being the host of a World Cup will increase economic growth and expand the labor market. Continue reading

China’s Handing Out Keys, America’s Handing Out Second Jobs

By Alexander Kenerson and Henry Mariscal

The COVID-19 pandemic reshaped the global economy. Supply chains were dismantled, trade ground to a halt, and overall consumption plummeted, making a global recession inevitable. Faced with the urgent task of restarting their economies, governments around the world made critical policy decisions, choices that continue to shape global markets today. Housing markets, considered a cornerstone of economic stability and growth, have experienced some of the most significant impacts.

An article by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia explains how U.S. mortgage rates were affected by the COVID pandemic. This article describes how lending boosted as a result of record low interest rates starting in July 2020 that continued through 2021, with much of the lending coming from refinancing. This was unexpected coming out of the pandemic, as the immediate downturn mixed with high unemployment caused expectations of foreclosures similar to the period of the Great Recession. As a result of this hot housing market and abundance of refinancing, home prices quickly increased. In response to this, mortgage rates increased, slowing down the amount of refinancing and slowing the increase of home prices. Overall, this article illustrates how the change in the United States mortgage rate affected refinancing and home prices in the period after 2020 to an extent where the mortgage rate needed to be raised immediately. Continue reading

Blog Post Formatting Tips

For your byline (the names of the authors), use Heading 2

Note on bylines: the standard convention for author order is alphabetical by last name. Some papers order authors by level of contribution, with those who’ve made the most significant contributions appearing earlier in the list. Other papers randomize author order, which they denote with an ⓡ symbol next to the names that have been randomized (the symbol is important: otherwise, any deviation from alphabetical order is interpreted as ordering by level of contribution). Order of names matters: as researchers reference publications by authors’ names rather than paper titles, first/earlier authors are more likely to get credit and recognition for the work. For your posts, you may pick any of the three author orders (alphabetical; by contribution; random) above.

For your regular paragraphs, use Paragraph.

Before you forget, tag your post with at least one Category from the right-hand side menu: COVID-19, Great Recession, International, or US Policy.

As you work on your post, use the “Save Draft” button at the top to save your progress. You can preview what your post looks like with the “Preview” button.

Your blog posts will be very long. I recommend adding a “READ MORE” tag (the button above that looks like a sandwich of a dashed line between two solid lines) after the first couple of paragraphs of your introduction. It will show up as a “Continue reading –>” button with a hyperlink on the post preview.

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Welcome to the Spring 2025 ECON 1102 Data Project Blog!

Economics is not just about models and theory. Our economic models are only as valuable as they are able to describe the real world. At its core, Economics wants to understand—and improve—the real world! However, oftentimes students don’t get to see empirical work by economists or don’t get the opportunity to do their own economic research until they get to higher-level elective courses (which could be in their junior year!).

The goals of this Data Project are as follows:

  1. Give you, the student, an opportunity to explore a topic you are interested in
  2. Expose you to the kind of work that economists do
  3. Give you skills to engage with the news, economic research, and data