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on Transport Economics |
| By: | Yahya F. Anouti (Division of Economics and Business, Colorado School of Mines); Carol A. Dahl (Division of Economics and Business, Colorado School of Mines) |
| Abstract: | Today, a confluence of factors, such as growing concerns about associated consumption externalities and socioeconomic pressures, is building the momentum towards reducing fossil fuel consumption for road transport and rationalizing prices to reflect direct, indirect and externality costs. While limited country specific work has been done, considering optimal transport fuel prices, (e.g. Parry 2012), we have found no attempts to do so with the breadth and scope of our analysis. Thus in this paper, we make three main contributions. First, we survey policies aimed at reducing transport fuel consumption. Out of these policies, we chose fiscal instruments for our extensive quantitative analysis carried out in a supply and demand framework for 123 countries. Second, we quantify the rationalized cost of transport fuels to reflect the direct costs (production), indirect costs (road maintenance), and negative externalities (climate change, local pollutants, traffic accidents and congestion). Finally, we measure the change in demand, environmental emissions, government revenues and welfare induced by successively phasing in our three cost categories. By rationalizing prices, we estimate that total demand for gasoline could be reduced by 8.5 percent and that of diesel by 5.7 percent. This would lead to not only reduction in associated negative externalities, but also generate an estimated $400 billion in revenues to governments. |
| Keywords: | transport policy, energy demand, subsidy, externalities, gasoline, diesel |
| Date: | 2014–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mns:wpaper:wp201401&r=tre |
| By: | Krüger, Niclas A. (VTI); Vierth, Inge (VTI) |
| Abstract: | There is limited knowledge about the valuation of reduced transport time variability for freight transports. This paper analyses a Swedish grocery company’s transports by shuttle train, as a case study. The distribution of the train arrival time is analyzed; it is shown that the 10 per cent worst delays contribute to more than half of the total train delays. Type and amount of the firm’s precautionary and operative costs are identified and calculated. It is shown that it is possible to get estimates for the cargo component of the VTTV (Value of Transport Time Variability) valid for the specific company based on the precautionary costs, the operative costs for delays and for the costs for cancellations separately or in combination. Further case studies are advocated in order to cover the whole freight transport market and study the differences between different segments of the market. |
| Keywords: | Value of Transport Time Variability (VTTV); Rail freight transports; Freight train delays; Monetary valuation; Precautionary costs; Operative costs; Cost-benefit analysis; Case study |
| JEL: | R41 R42 R48 |
| Date: | 2014–02–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ctswps:2014_003&r=tre |
| By: | Anna Alberini (AREC, University of Maryland, Centre for Energy Policy and Economics (CEPE), ETH Zürich, and Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei); Markus Bareit (CEPE, ETH Zürich); Massimo Filippini (CEPE, ETH Zürich, and University of Lugano) |
| Abstract: | To correct market failures due to the presence of negative externalities associated with energy consumption, governments have adopted a variety of policies, including taxes, subsidies, regulations and standards, and information-based policies. For example, labels that clearly convey energy consumption rates, associated costs, and emissions of conventional pollutants and CO2, have been devised and used in the last two decades in several countries. In 2003, Switzerland introduced a system of fuel economy labels, based on grades ranging from A to G, where is A best and G is worst, to assist consumers in making decisions that improve the fleet’s fuel economy and lower emissions. We use a dataset documenting all passenger cars approved for sale in Switzerland each year from 2000 to 2011 to answer three key research questions. First, what is the willingness to pay for fuel economy? Second, do Swiss drivers—or Swiss auto importers on their behalf—appear to do a one-to-one tradeoff between car purchase price and savings on fuel costs over the lifetime of the car? Third, does the label have an additional effect on price, all else the same, above and beyond that of fuel efficiency alone? Hedonic pricing regressions that exploit the variation in fuel economy across make-models, and over time within make-models, suggest that there is a (modest) capitalization of fuel economy into car prices. The diesel premium, however, exceeds the future fuel cost savings made possible by diesel cars, even at zero discount rates. An alternate calculation suggests that the fuel economy premium is consistent with a very low discount rate (2.5%). We use a sharp regression discontinuity design (RDD) based on the mechanism used by the Swiss Federal Office of Energy to assign cars to the fuel economy label to see if the label has an independent effect on price, above and beyond that of the fuel economy. The RDD approach estimates the effect to be 6-11%. To broaden the fuel economy range over which we assess the effect of the A label, we also deploy matching estimators, and find that the effect of an A label on car price is approximately 5%. |
| Keywords: | Fuel Economy, CO2 Emissions, Passenger Vehicles, Hedonic Pricing Model, Matching Estimator, Regression Discontinuity Design, Fuel Efficiency Premium, Discounted Future Fuel Costs |
| JEL: | Q48 Q53 Q54 |
| Date: | 2014–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2014.16&r=tre |
| By: | Reid Ewing; Harry W. Richardson; Keith Bartholomew; Arthur C. Nelson; Chang-Hee Christine Bae |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the relative merits of compact cities or urban sprawl (suburban settlement patterns) as a spatial solution to environmental problems (such as climate control), automobile dependence, economic development, infrastructure costs and the quality of urban life. |
| Keywords: | compact cities, sprawl, vehicle miles traveled, carbon emissions, infrastructure costs, residential preferences, commuting times |
| JEL: | R14 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_4571&r=tre |
| By: | Miranda Sarmento, J.; Renneboog, L.D.R. (Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research) |
| Abstract: | Abstract: This paper presents the main reasons why public-private partnerships (PPPs) are adopted as well as the possible disadvantages for the public and private sectors. By means of two case studies on bridge construction and railway infrastructure (Fertagus and Lusoponte), we elucidate how a PPP is structured and financed. Furthermore, the two case studies illustrate how the renegotiation processes are conducted when the public-private contracts have to be altered and what determines (un)successful renegotiations. |
| Keywords: | Public–Private Partnerships;Concessions;Renegotiations;Public Procurement;Project Risk |
| JEL: | G32 H54 L91 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:kubcen:2014017&r=tre |
| By: | Fernando Mendiola (Universidad Pública de Navarra / Nafarroako Unibertsitate Publikoa, Iruñea – Pamplona, Spain) |
| Abstract: | This article deals with the main economic keys that explain the evolution in the deployment of prisoners and prisoners of war on extending and reconstructing the railways. The first part presents a list of the works carried out during the Spanish civil war and the Francoist dictatorship. Subsequently, an analysis is made of the three main variables of work according to institutional change and the business structure of the Spanish railway. Thanks to this variety of situation, we can better understand to which extent labour supply and productivity levels are on the basis of the evolution of enterprises strategies towards this kind of labour in different situations, such as war economy, after-war reconstruction, and dictatorship, until 1957. |
| Keywords: | forced labour, railway infrastructures, railway companies, Franco´s Dictatorship, coercion |
| JEL: | J20 N84 N44 N34 L92 |
| Date: | 2014–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ahe:dtaehe:1405&r=tre |