Study reveals that traffic increases the cost of living in Israel by 6%

At a conference by the Aharon Institute for Economic Policy of the Reichman University, a group of researchers presented a study that revealed the effects of traffic on the cost of living in Israel.

According to researchers Sani Ziv and Oren Shapir, traffic jams increase the gap in the cost of living between Israel and some European countries by 6%. Road congestion adds to the 34% gap in the cost of a basic basket of products in the country compared to other countries.

Using costs from countries such as Austria, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Finland and Sweden as a reference, housing accounts for most of this difference, but road congestion adds an additional 6%, affecting productivity and increasing the cost of life.

The study indicates that the high cost of housing pushes the population towards the outer rings of the main metropolis around Tel Aviv.

The researchers recommend an integrated urban planning approach that considers transportation and housing as complementary and inseparable systems. Similar approaches have already been successfully implemented in cities such as Singapore or Tokyo.