This paper is the most thorough and insightful deconstruction of car dependence I've seen. Should be required reading for anyone working on sustainable transport.

Read @giulio_mattioli's thread below. A couple of my own thoughts to follow. [threadlet] https://twitter.com/giulio_mattioli/status/1252334696580726784

Biggest wake-up call for me: Capital intensiveness/economies of scale in car industry are at the root the problem. Inflexible modes of production privilege standard products, limiting room for innovation (including for sustainability). 2/x

The economics of manufacturing, the auto industry's "too big to fail" status in the economy, the cyclicality of the car market, and the industry's political clout contribute to its constant need for bailouts during difficult economic times. (Like, for instance, right now.) 3/x

The authors don't get into this, but the low margins of auto manufacturing and economies of scale seem to create incentives to "move metal" and to develop profit centers in financing, service, etc. - all of which hampers the transition to EVs and saddles consumers w/debt. 4/x

Sad head-nod moment: Recognition of what the authors call "opportunistic use of contradictory economic arguments." We've seen this with boondoggle highway projects in the Rust Belt. Have industry? Need more roads. Want industry? Need more roads. 5/x https://frontiergroup.org/blogs/blog/fg/can-highways-heal-rust-belt

Leading to the other sad head-nod moment: This paper might provide the clearest explanation of why policies that support car dependence are often bipartisan. Left and right both have rationales to support it. 6/x

Still, the paper shows what those of us working for sustainable transportation are up against. The bad news is that self-reinforcing webs of policy, finance and culture are hard to disrupt. But sometimes you can unravel a web by clipping the right string at the right time. 7/x

And I'd be remiss if I didn't call attention to the authors' new Pentagram of Car Dependence, which I'll be getting a tattoo of when this current madness is over. [end]