http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/30/business/economy/traffic-backups-as-a-gauge-of-an-improving-us-economy.html?ref=economy&_r=0
According to traffic devices on cell phones and GPS's, traffic is getting worse in the United States. This is seen as good for our economy, even though it may be more inconvenient for your average driver. Bryan Mistele, who is a chief executive of Inrix Gridlock Index, states that this is a good indicator of confidence, meaning that people drive and are returning to work, as well as ship more freight as orders increase. This can mean that "the pulse of the economy is starting to beat faster" (Mistele). On the contrary, Europeans are faced with the opposite, travelers are traveling less, traffic is decreasing, and their economies are going into recessions.
Inrix has been collecting data since 2010 on many different things. Things including how long it takes vehicles to travel, figures for 15-minute intervals which separate vehicles like taxis that drop off passengers, and a few others.
This, I find, is very interesting because even though drivers out there hate the traffic and wish there was less, it still could be a good thing for our economy.
I agree that more traffic can be a sign of an economic boost since it shows that more people are traveling to work, stores or banks. By doing this, it is a flow of money and economy.
ReplyDeleteI also agree and think this is very interesting. I never made that connection before. It is a good foreshadowing of improvement. Gas sales are obviously going to go up. However, because of the increase in demand, gas prices will also increase. It will be interesting to see what kind of effect this has.Of course gas doesn't really have a good substitute(Unless you have an electric or specialty environmental car), so people will continue to consume it at full force, but I am interested to see how it plays into the equation.
ReplyDeleteThis could definitely be seen as a good thing for the economy. However, with all this travel, is the U.S. relying more on foreign oil and less on domestic products?
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