The Cost of Convenience
A Hedonic Approach to Travel Time Valuation and Cost‐Benefit Analysis
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21353039 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Isaac Mann (0009-0007-8237-8910, The University of Sydney Camperdown Australia, corresponding author), David Levinson (0000-0002-4563-2963, The University of Sydney Camperdown Australia), David M Levinson (The University of Sydney) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Publication date | 2026-04-27 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Regional Science (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0022-4146 • E-ISSN: 1467-9787 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/jors.70065 |
| OpenAlex | W7155966908 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 72 |
This paper presents a novel revealed‐preference approach to estimating the value of travel time (VTT) and calculating consumer surplus for the economic evaluation of transport infrastructure. Departing from traditional stated‐preference models, we derive time valuations by linking residential rental transactions in Greater Sydney to employment accessibility. We estimate a hedonic price function that controls for unobserved amenities and spatial sorting, recovering VTT estimates consistent with current cost‐benefit analysis practice. Furthermore, we leverage the non‐linearity of the price gradient, as well as cross‐market variation in the price gradient, to perform a second‐stage regression without instrumental variables, recovering the structural demand function for accessibility. This allows us to quantify welfare changes from non‐marginal accessibility shocks, demonstrated on the Sydney Metro West project, grounding project appraisal in revealed spatial behavior
Economic surplus · Function (biology) · Hedonic regression · Leverage (statistics) · Renting · Valuation (finance) · Value of time · Welfare · Economic and Environmental Valuation · Transportation Planning and Optimization · Urban Transport and Accessibility
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How Accessibility Shapes Land Use
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Demand Estimation with Heterogeneous Consumers and Unobserved Product Characteristics
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A New Approach to Consumer Theory
A Theory of the Allocation of Time
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| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |