Description:

Dr. Milena Almagro

Assistant Professor 

University of Chicago 

Abstract 

Urban transportation policies have become a focal point in cities' efforts to curb congestion and address environmental and distributional concerns. This paper characterizes the optimal mix of policies and evaluates their welfare and distributional effects. To that end, we present a framework of a municipal government aiming to maximize welfare. The government chooses the prices and frequencies of different modes of transportation, subject to a budget constraint that introduces monopoly-like distortions. We move on to an empirical application of this framework to the city of Chicago. We first construct a novel dataset of all relevant transportation modes. On the demand side, our empirical model captures rich heterogeneity in travel choices. On the supply side we account for differential congestion and costs of different road-based modes. Our counterfactual results suggest that if the city only intervenes on public transit, it should lower transit prices even further but also lower frequency to meet its budget constraint. On the other hand, introducing a per-kilometer tax on drivers leads to higher welfare gains. 

Bio 

Milena Almagro's research focuses on urban inequality using tools from the Industrial Organization literature to study the internal structure of cities. Her work expands on several topics, ranging from the impact of gentrification on the well-being of different demographic groups to racial segregation and inequality in US cities. 

Her research has been published in Theoretical Economics and the Journal of Urban Economics: Insight.

Prior to joining Booth, Almagro was a Junior Scholar of the Opportunity and Inclusive Growth Institute at the Minneapolis Fed.

Almagro holds a PhD in economics from New York University.  Additionally, she earned an MSc in econometrics & mathematical economics from London School of Economics, a BA in Economics from University of Cambridge, and a Licentiate degree in Mathematics from Universidad Complutense de Madrid.