Publisher:
[Banco de México], [Ciudad de México, México]
Improving public transport infrastructure changes local market conditions. In this paper, I examine the impact of the construction and operation of "Metrobus", Mexico City's Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system on consumer prices in chain stores, street...
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ZBW - Leibniz-Informationszentrum Wirtschaft, Standort Kiel
Signature:
DS 192
Inter-library loan:
No inter-library loan
Improving public transport infrastructure changes local market conditions. In this paper, I examine the impact of the construction and operation of "Metrobus", Mexico City's Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system on consumer prices in chain stores, street vendors, and small family-owned (mom and pop) stores. I do so through a panel event study design. I consider the construction and operation of BRT as two different phenomena; while the former is associated to street closures, the latter reduces transportation costs. I show that only prices in mom and pop stores respond to changes in local market conditions produced by the introduction of BRT. For these businesses, construction pressures prices downwards; in contrast, operation is associated with partial price recoveries. I cannot reject a null effect in prices from chain stores or street vendors.