Furman Center Speaker Series: Traffic Externalities of E-Commerce Deliveries

Please join the NYU Furman Center for a lunchtime presentation on: 

Traffic Externalities of E-Commerce Deliveries

  with

Daniel Mangrum, PhD

Research Economist
Federal Reserve Bank of New York

RSVP HERE

Abstract: Advances in technology, improvements in supply chain logistics, and changes in consumer preferences have driven a shift of billions of dollars of household purchases away from big box stores and toward online sales. While e-commerce tends to be more convenient for consumers, delivering goods puts large strains on urban infrastructure, particularly for the last-mile. In this paper, we provide the first quantitative estimates for the impact of e-commerce deliveries on traffic congestion. We exploit a large exogenous shock to the volume of package deliveries in the form of Amazon Prime Day which is a narrow sales window in mid-July that accounts for a doubling of sales relative to an average sales day. We use a variety of speed measures across several cities to estimate the impact of the delivery of Prime Day purchases on traffic speeds.

About the Presenter: Daniel earned his PhD in Economics in June 2020 prior to joining the Federal Reserve Bank of New York as a Research Economist. He primarily studies policy relevant topics in consumer and household finance with a focus on consumer credit. He also studies topics in urban economics with a focus on New York City urban infrastructure.