Endogenous scheduling preferences and congestion

Dynamic models of congestion so far rely on exogenous scheduling preferences of travelers, based for example on disutility of deviation from a preferred departure or arrival time for a trip. This paper provides a more fundamental view in which travelers derive utility just from consumption and leisure, but agglomeration economies at home and at work lead to scheduling preferences forming endogenously. Using bottleneck congestion technology, we obtain an equilibrium queuing pattern consistent with a general version of the Vickrey bottleneck model. However, the policy implications are different. Compared to the predictions of an analyst observing untolled equilibrium and taking scheduling preferences as exogenous, we find that both the optimal capacity and the marginal external cost of congestion have changed. The benefits of tolling are greater, and the optimal time varying toll is different.