Abstract

Social and economic inequalities have sharpened in the late 20<sup>th</sup> century. During this period, Europe has witnessed a rising unemployment rate, a declining wages for the least qualified workers, a slowing of income growth, and an increasing gap between the richest and the poorest. Based on the hypothesis of the relation between socio-economic condition and mobility behaviour, it is necessary to ask how these socio-economic inequalities manifest themselves in transportation: does a rise in income inequality lead to a rise in transportation inequality and mobility practice inequality? This question is particularly relevant today as some European countries are facing high socio-economic inequalities following the financial crisis that started in 2008. Using results from transport, car ownership and mobility surveys as well as household surveys from the Paris (Île-de-France) region between eighties and late nineties, this paper tries to answer this question. The results show how inequalities in transportation and mobility practice have decreased during the period in spite of an increase in income inequalities. We find that the evolution of socio-economic inequality, most specifically income inequality was simply one of the determining factors of the evolution of inequalities in transportation and mobility practice. In fact, the most important role in that evolution is not played by the evolution of income inequality but by the evolution of elasticity between transportation and income. Reducing the effects of this elasticity should be the main target of transport policies to diminish inequality in transportation and mobility practice.

Highlights

  • In the last 30 year period, Europe has witnessed an increase in economic and social inequality

  • This study found that on any given date, inequality in the distributions of income per capita and car ownership per capita were the two primary factors that help explain most of the inequalities in mobility

  • The evolution of inequality in the distribution of car ownership during this period greatly affected the evolution of mobility inequality, speed and mobility by private car in particular, while evolution in the inequality of per capita income distribution during the same period determined the evolution of inequality in mobility on foot or by public transport in particular

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Summary

Introduction

In the last 30 year period, Europe has witnessed an increase in economic and social inequality. In order to answer this question, this paper presents an analysis of the dynamic of inequality by using the method of concentration index decomposition developed by Podder (1993) and by Wagstaff, Van Doorlaer and Watanabe (2003) This method allows us, first, to analyse the contribution of each socio-economic and demographic factor to the inequalities in mobility in static terms: at a given point in time and, second, in dynamic terms: between two points in time. Using the above three types of data we present an analysis of the economic inequalities of the Paris region followed by an exploration of the demographic and socioprofessional characteristics of the households It will introduce the concentration index decomposition previously mentioned as the main method. Having chosen the Paris region of France as a case study, the analysis was based on the results of three kinds of survey as explained in the following three subsections

Global Survey of Transport
INSEE Parc Auto Surveys
Economic Inequalities in Paris Region
Income Distribution Analysis Based on Three Sources of Data
Demographical and Socio-Professional Characteristics of the Households
Concentration Index Decomposition
Inequalities in Transport and Mobility
Findings
Conclusions
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