Impact of Congestion on Shippers' Inventory Costs. Final Report to Federal Highway Administration

摘要

Our previous report analyzed the extent that government spending on highways lowered firms' inventory and logistics costs. In that analysis, highway congestion was treated as a control variable. However, the impact of congestion on firms inventories may be important in its own right. Unfortunately, popular and scholarly studies of the social costs of congestion have typically focused on motorists and failed to offer even a rough estimate of how firms costs are increased by delays in the shipment of their goods. Firms engaged in shipping goods (hereafter shippers) are exposed to congestion at the origin of their shipment (e.g., an MSA), the locales that the shipment passes through enroute to its destination, and at the destination (e.g., another MSA). In theory, congestion raises shippers costs because it ties up their inventory in transit.