Thomas Hierons studies how congestion pricing policies affects people’s lives
At the beginning of September, Thomas Hierons joined the Department of Economics as a postdoctoral scholar. Most recently, Thomas spent a year as a postdoctoral fellow at Princeton University.
Thomas Hierons, postdoctoral scholar in economics at Stockholm University.
Potential gains from congestion pricing
In a recent project, Thomas Hierons looks at how cities can use congestion pricing to tackle traffic on their roads. Policies like these can have different effects on the people of the city – they might change the route they take to drive to work, or how much they use public transport. They may even choose to live or work somewhere else.
More specifically, Thomas has applied the framework to New York City, which has recently implemented a congestion pricing scheme. Using data on traffic flows of more than 2,000 roads throughout the city, together with Google maps travel times and information from the US census on where people live and work, Thomas finds that increased ridership on public transport is a key channel for the gains from congestion pricing.
On joining Stockholm University
“I’m really enjoying my time in the department so far. Departmental lunches and a weekly organised fika* create a very friendly working environment,” Thomas says. The seminar series and chats with colleagues have also made for a stimulating research culture, he continues. In the next coming months, Thomas is looking forward to exploring Stockholm more with his wife. “I also want to work on my Swedish through some language classes at the university.”
Find out more about Thomas Hierons and his research here:
*Fika is a Swedish social tradition centered on a coffee break.
Last updated: 2026-10-27
Source: Department of Economics