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Dear Geographers:
Our colleagues in Sociology have invited us to a presentation this week (see below). Given Dr. Chi's expertise in transportation and spatial demographer, his research might be interested to many of us. Our Department endorsed the SEC Faculty Travel that made Chi's visit possible. Undergrads are welcome to attend.
Best wishes,
Derek Alderman
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Dr. Guangqing Chi will present "Social and Spatial Implications of Gasoline Price Increases" on March 13 from 12:00-1:20 in 1210 McClung Tower. Dr. Chi is an Assistant Professor of Sociology and a Research Scientist at the Social Science Research Center of Mississippi State University. He is a spatial demographer and his program of research seeks to examine the interactions between human populations and the built and natural environment. We have reserved time after his talk for graduate students to meet with Dr. Chi.
“Social and Spatial Implications of Gasoline Price Increases"
Wednesday, March 13
12:00-1:20 McClung Tower Room 1210
Recent fluctuations in gasoline prices have resulted in complex social and spatial implications for travelers, the public, planners, and decision makers. This presentation uses traffic crash data from Mississippi, Alabama, and Minnesota and residential relocation data from the American Housing Survey to address the associations of gasoline prices with traffic safety and residential relocation. The results suggest that rising gasoline prices are associated with higher levels of traffic safety. The association takes place immediately for younger drivers but at 8–10 months for other demographic groups. The association is also greater for less severe crashes. Alcohol has a stronger association with drunk-driving crashes than gasoline prices do; alcohol also has a stronger association with more severe crashes than less severe ones.
Higher gasoline prices are also found to be associated with fewer households relocating but a higher percentage of movers moving closer to workplaces. The effects diminish after three years. The direct effects are stronger than the indirect effects through disposable income. Gasoline prices have been in an uptrend since 2002; if this trend continues, higher gasoline prices could lead to centralization and high-density development, the reverse of the decentralization and low-density sprawl that have been experienced in the past two centuries.