Publication Type
Journal Article
Version
submittedVersion
Publication Date
10-2025
Abstract
Search frictions and misallocation are common in decentralized transportation markets. Using novel trip-level data of taxis in Singapore, this paper examines the impactof real-time demand information at airport terminals on search frictions. The information reduces taxi supply misallocation, increasing deadheading speed by 16.3% and decreasing deadheading time by 10.77%, benefiting both passengers and drivers. It raises daily earnings by $3.70 USD and adds 6.2 minutes of operational time per airport-trip taxi. Spatial spillovers are primarily observed among drivers in adjacentdistricts. Taxis from the Budget Terminal and drivers with fewer prior airport pickups benefit more from this information.
Keywords
Information Provision, Search Frictions, Demand-Supply Misallocation, Taxis
Discipline
Artificial Intelligence and Robotics | Asian Studies
Research Areas
Intelligent Systems and Optimization
Publication
Review of Economics and Statistics
First Page
1
Last Page
47
ISSN
0034-6535
Identifier
10.1162/REST.a.1632
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press
Citation
AGARWAL, Sumit; CHENG, Shih-Fen; KEPPO, Jussi; WANG, Long; and YANG, Yang.
Information provision and search frictions: Evidence from the taxi industry in Singapore. (2025). Review of Economics and Statistics. 1-47.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sis_research/10627
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Additional URL
https://doi.org/10.1162/REST.a.1632