Does Teleworking Increase or Decrease Travel? Using Selection Models to Obtain (Counterfactual) Longitudinal Results from Cross-Sectional Data
Speaker:
Prof. Patricia Mokhtarian
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Tech
Date: January 17, 2024 (Wednesday)
Time: 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Venue: Room 612B, 6/F Haking Wong Building, The University of Hong Kong
Abstract
The (mostly pre-pandemic) literature presents mixed findings with respect to whether teleworking (TWing) reduces travel or increases it. This talk examines why, and presents a portfolio of methods -- selection models -- that can provide a more convincing answer to the question, particularly when only cross-sectional data are available. The basic concepts of selectivity bias, its correction, and the estimation of treatment effects are described, and then applied to the title question. The results confirm both that (1) on average, TWing reduces individuals' vehicle-miles driven (VMD) compared to their counterfactual non-TWing state, and (2) for a non-trivial subset of cases (particularly those who are not travel-stressed), TWing does, in fact, increase VMD.
About the Speaker
Patricia Mokhtarian is the Clifford and William Greene, Jr. Professor in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Georgia Tech, as well as Professor Emerita of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of California, Davis (UC Davis). She has specialized in the study of travel behavior for more than 40 years, and has authored or co-authored nearly 200 peer-reviewed journal articles. According to Google Scholar, her work has been cited more than 35,000 times. In particular, she has been studying the relationships between information and communication technology (ICT) and travel behavior since 1982, and has published more than 75 journal articles on that subject, including more than 40 articles on teleworking alone. Dr. Mokhtarian is a past Chair of the International Association for Travel Behaviour Research, and received a Lifetime Achievement Award from that society in 2021. She serves on the editorial boards of eight prominent transportation journals, including Travel Behaviour and Society.
Hosts:
DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING
SEMINAR
JOINTLY ORGANIZED WITH
INSTITUTE OF TRANSPORT STUDIES, HKU