Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/273314 
Year of Publication: 
2023
Citation: 
[Journal:] Journal of Urban Economics [ISSN:] 1095-9068 [Volume:] 136 [Article No.:] 103569 [Publisher:] Elsevier [Place:] Amsterdam [Year:] 2023 [Pages:] --
Publisher: 
Elsevier, Amsterdam
Abstract: 
We study the firm-level responses to a substantial increase in transportation costs in the wake of a quasi-experiment that introduced tolls in a subset of Portuguese highways. Exploiting a unique dataset encompassing the universe of Portuguese private firms, we find that the introduction of tolls caused a substantial decrease in turnover (−10.2%) and productivity (−4.3%) in treated firms vis-à-vis firms in the comparison group. In response to the tolls, firms substantially cut employment-related expenses and purchases of other inputs. Labor costs were reduced by both employment cuts and a decrease in average wages. While firms did not increase inventory, there is some evidence for increased firm exit, in particular by firms in tradables sectors.
Subjects: 
Road tolls
Infrastructure
Firm performance
Firm behavior
Location
Portugal
JEL: 
R48
L25
R12
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Creative Commons License: 
cc-by-nc-nd Logo
Document Type: 
Article
Document Version: 
Published Version

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