Induced Consumption
We increase capacity to solve bottlenecks, but this often just changes behavior to cause the problem to return.
Links
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How highways make traffic worse
A visualization showing how increased highway capacity in Katy, Texas did not reduce congestion.
Examples
If we widen a congested road, this might just cause more people to drive rather than take public transportation, thus bringing congestion levels right back to where they were before. Put another way: an ad hoc solution (taking public transportation) might have sprung up for a problem (a congested road). Solving the problem might undo the solution.
Rising personal income usually results in rising lifestyle expenditures – when we make more, we spend more, and thus we don’t feel any richer than we did before.