Would Congestion Pricing Harm the Poor? Do Free Roads Help the Poor?

Congestion pricing could reduce urban congestion, but might disproportionately benefit the affluent and burden the poor. We show that this common concern also applies to free roads. Free urban highways primarily subsidize richer people, and the resulting congestion creates pollution that disproportionately burdens poorer people. Furthermore, the poor drivers burdened by peak-hour road pricing would be a small minority of total peak-hour drivers and a minority of the poor. These facts suggest that the revenue generated by pricing could compensate any poor drivers harmed. Free roads, in contrast, generate no revenue to compensate the people they harm