Louis-Philippe Beland
Public Affairs Research Excellence Chair (Assistant level)
Professor Beland uses sound research designs to provide insight into important public policy issues touching public and labour economics. One of his research interest is externalities to traffic. Congestion levels have been increasing in most urban cities in Canada and the United States. The most obvious reason that traffic congestion is increasing widely is population growth. This is a serious concern since congestion levels are expected to continue to increase.
In his research, Professor Beland has documented various externalities to traffic, including the negative emotional cues associated with unexpected high traffic and its link to domestic violence. He also documented the cost of traffic on the work of first responders. His work shows that traffic slow down the time of arrival to an incident and show serious consequences. Some of his future work will study additional costs of traffics.
2022 SSHRC Insight Grant
Determinants of Health
This research project encompasses several distinct studies aimed at investigating various factors affecting health capital and their subsequent impact. The first paper delves into the effect of governors’ political parties (Democrat vs. Republican) on infant health outcomes in the U.S., examining the outcomes by various demographic factors. The second paper explores the impact of police violence on infant health outcomes in the U.S., particularly focusing on in utero exposure to police-involved shootings. The third paper analyzes the introduction of opioids on traffic fatalities and infant health outcomes in the United States, utilizing cross-state variations in OxyContin’s entry and marketing policies. Each study contributes to our understanding of how policy and politics shape health capital and, subsequently, human capital.
2020 SSHRC Insight Development Grant
Traffic, Judges and Immigration Decisions
This research project aims to investigate the economic consequences of traffic congestion, specifically focusing on whether morning traffic affects the productivity of judges in the United States and their immigration adjudication decisions. The study builds on existing research demonstrating that judges can be influenced by various emotional cues, such as significant events or external factors. Additionally, it recognizes the growing body of literature linking traffic congestion to negative mental health outcomes, including stress and aggression. The project intends to combine immigration adjudications with local traffic data in California from 2008 to 2015 to analyze the impact of unexpected high traffic faced by judges during their morning commute. By examining deviations from a judge’s usual traffic patterns and considering various judge characteristics, the study seeks to uncover whether traffic congestion affects judges’ productivity and the outcomes of immigration decisions. The research aims to shed light on an understudied aspect of traffic’s impact on work productivity, which is particularly relevant in urban areas, and may have important policy implications for traffic management.