Can Information Narrow The Gap Between Stated and Revealed Preferences? The Effect Of Information On The Residential Location Process
Creators: name: Chalmers, Katherine
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2007

description: The residential location decision significantly affects household travel patterns based on the options for transportation which are present at various locations. Despite this fact, transportation policies have historically focused on reducing travel demand by affecting decisions like mode choice that are contingent in large part upon residential location. Previous studies have found that providing individuals with information can significantly change the accessibility of the residential locations they choose. In this study I use information about a) individuals' actual residential choices b) their stated preferences for accessibility and c) their revealed choices through a simulation to better understand the how providing individuals with information about transportation attributes of housing options may result in more accessible locations. I conduct three sets of analyses (letter in parenthesis show the sources of information for each analysis). First I compare whether the choices made in the simulation (c) vary by the accessibility of individuals' current housing choices (a). The second analysis combines individuals' stated preferences for housing characteristics (b) with their current housing choices (a) by developing an index of neighborhood dissonance. Using this index, I determine whether providing information to individuals influences location decisions (c) differentially depending on each individual's neighborhood dissonance level. Third, I compare the accessibility characteristics of current housing choices (a) with the choices determined through the simulation (c) to determine whether information yields smaller differences between actual and preferred locations. The results of the three sets of analysis provide insight into variation in the effect of information on residential location decision-making. In the first analysis, there was no significant effect of accessibility of participants' current residences on their use of information. In the second analysis, there were differential effects of information related to the level of neighborhood type dissonance that participants experienced. In the third analysis, there were significant effects of information on the difference between participants' actual and simulated locations. In particular, and as expected, the effect of information on the accessibility of location decisions is amplified when neighborhood dissonance is medium or high. In this context, information is seen as a medium to improve the match between stated preferences and actual choices. Previous research had shown that providing information to prospective decision-makers, irrespective of neighborhood dissonance, resulted in location choices that had higher transit service quality and accessibility. However, people with medium and high neighborhood type dissonance between their stated preferences and properties selected in the simulation used information to locate closer to high-quality transit service and their destinations. People with medium neighborhood type dissonance were most likely to use information to locate in more accessible areas. Identifying and providing information to these individuals can significantly affect residential location decisions. The findings have important implications for policymakers and researchers. Providing information to all people is not the most efficient manner to encourage people to locate in more accessible locations. Instead, information should be targeted to people who are living in areas that are moderately different from their preferred environment in terms of accessibility. For researchers, this implies the need to find ways to identify people who are living in areas that do not correspond with their preferences in order to create the greatest change. The findings support the growing evidence that transportation choices can be influenced through targeting information to improve residential location processes.