Davidson Conference Center

Embassy Room

University of Southern California, Los Angeles

Friday, April 16, 2010

8:30 am – 4:45 pm

The issues: Pricing and user charges for things like carbon and gasoline offer an effective means to achieve short-term gains in climate policy, air quality, congestion relief, and agency budgetary ills. At the same time, pricing and user charges also can cut low-income families out of publicly provided services.

But the jury is out—or it should be—on whether underpricing public services really benefits low-income families. Some public infrastructure and services, like roads and water, have significant external costs (like pollution or overconsumpution) that can also hurt low-income communities in the long term. If we fail to “pay as we go” with infrastructure, spending on infrastructure can also displace public funding needed for other services to low-income families, such as public schools. Finally, charging low prices to every user, not just the poor, limits the revenues to public agencies so that service quality can suffer. Those in poverty may be far less able to supplement lower-quality public services with private purchases the way higher income families can.

The format: Join us on Friday, April 16, 2010, to have a conversational seminar with thought leaders and practitioners in water, energy, transportation, and affordable housing to discuss social equity and the pricing of public services. No Powerpoint presentations, no lectures—just ideas and interaction.