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on Transport Economics |
| By: | Zhou, You |
| Keywords: | freight emission, passenger emission, highway investment, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Environmental Economics and Policy, R4, Q5, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea15:205676&r=tre |
| By: | Salin, Delmy |
| Abstract: | Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Texas A&M Transportation Institute scientists found that rail continues to be the most important mode of transport for U.S. grains, oilseeds, and products entering Mexico, followed by seaports and trucks. Nearly all Mexican land ports of entry are connected with a U.S. railroad, except for Nuevo Progreso, which does not have rail access (Fig. 1). Increased rail efficiency caused by larger trains and gauge uniformity facilitates North America Railroads (Canada, United States, and Mexico) integration. Once inside Mexico, the majority of the U.S. exports were shipped by rail within Mexico to their final destination (Fig. 2). Two major Mexican rail companies: Ferromex/Ferrosur and Kansas City Southern de Mexico handled U.S. grains, oilseeds, and related products inside Mexico. Jalisco is the largest single destination for rail shipments, followed by Queretaro, and the Estado de Mexico. The largest rail origin-destination pairs, with at least a million metric tons, include Nuevo Laredo-Queretaro, Piedras Negras-Jalisco, Veracruz-Puebla, Nuevo Laredo-Nuevo Leon, Nuevo Laredo-Estado de Mexico, and Ciudad Juárez-Jalisco. |
| Keywords: | Mexico, transportation, rail, grain, Marketing, |
| Date: | 2014–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:uamsrr:166743&r=tre |
| By: | O'Rear, Eric G.; Sarica, Kemal; Tyner, Wallace E. |
| Abstract: | I. Overview For close to a century fuel taxes have been used to finance the building, operations, and maintenance of the US transportation system. The contributions of tax revenues in real terms, however, have been consistently declining in the recent decade as average national tax rates have not budged since 1993 and failed to keep up with inflation – resulting in substantial losses in purchasing power. This coupled with the fact that average fuel economy levels for newer light-duty vehicles continues to improve given recent government legislation, fewer tax revenues can be recouped. Costs associated with constructing and maintaining transportation systems have increased over time, growing at faster rates than fuel tax revenues. The impacts of declining revenue streams on US highways have led to almost $130 billion in economic losses (in the form of increased vehicle repair and time costs). In order to correct the problem of eroding tax revenues groups such as the National Surface Transportation Infrastructure Finance Commission support the replacement of the current tax system with a tax on vehicle miles traveled (VMT) with hopes of encouraging less driving and creating more sustainable streams of revenue. Unlike a fuel tax, mileage charges directly target miles driven by consumers, which helps to lower fuel use and driving externality costs. One of the primary issues with the tax, however, is that it does not encourage the use of more fuel-efficient vehicles. So any reductions in emissions achieved by less driving could be displaced by the emissions of more heavily used, dirtier conventional automobiles. Our study compares a national VMT tax with the existing volumetric fuel tax system, observing the interaction between mileage charges and enacted policies such as the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) and the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) Standard. II. Methodology The responsiveness of LDVs to a series of mileage taxes is observed using an elastic version of the US EPA MARKAL model. MARKAL is a bottom-up, demand-driven, partial equilibrium model that relies on linear optimization techniques to simultaneously minimize total system costs and maximize net total surplus. Exogenous end-use demands are satisfied using the most efficient and least-cost combination of technologies and primary resource usage rates chosen by the model. It operates on data supplied by the EPA National MARKAL database, which includes information on the five primary economic sectors. Existing fuel taxes are compared with three versions of a mileage-based tax. The first is a VMT charge ($/mile) set equivalent to the baseline national average gasoline tax ($0.49/gallon) and increases 1% annually. The second tax is tuned to achieve similar tax revenues as our series of baseline volumetric fuel taxes over time. The final VMT charge internalizes congestion, air pollution, oil dependency, and other driving-related externality costs. It is imperative that consideration for current environmental regulations and programs that either directly or indirectly impact the transportation sector is given to better understand differences in the ways mileage taxes interact with these policies. The current Renewable Fuels Standard is modeled alongside President Obama’s recent increases in CAFE standards which require that average fuel economy reach 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025 for LDVs. Plug-in hybrid-electric vehicles (PHEV) purchased after 2010 are eligible for a tax credit worth up to $7,500 based on the battery capacity. For simplicity, we assume that the $7,500 credit is applicable to all PHEVs and is deducted from annual investment costs for each type of plug-in hybrid vehicle III. Results Our first series of results in which we compare current fuel taxes to VMT tax rates set according to baseline fuel economy levels (Case 1), suggest that mileage charges begin to generate more revenue after complete implementation of newer CAFÉ standards in year 2025. Consumers respond to higher CAFE standards by driving more energy-efficient vehicles like PHEVs. These vehicles escape paying fuel taxes either partially or completely by using electricity instead of gasoline – thereby resulting in fewer fuel tax revenues. Under mileage taxes they face similar taxes as conventional vehicles and will now have a greater contribution to tax revenues. Case 2 directly contrasts fuel taxes and revenue-neutral mileage taxes. We discover that the revenue-neutral taxes fail to achieve any additional reductions in VMT. And the LDV fleet will experience an average loss in energy-efficiency as the tax structure switches from fuel to mileage taxes. CAFE increases and PHEV credits modeled help ensure that minimum fleet average efficiency will be achieved. However, VMT taxes prevent efficiency levels from improving much beyond this point partly due to their discouraging of the use of plug-in hybrid vehicles. Market responses to VMT taxes urge the substitution of the heavier gasoline-ethanol blend E85 (15% gasoline/85% ethanol) to one comprised of only 10% ethanol (E10). The implications of lower ethanol demands on the RFS are significant, as cellulosic ethanol is no longer used to meet fuel demands. However, there is a ramp up in the production of cheaper thermochemical fuels in order to satisfy RFS biofuel requirements. Similar to Case 2, internalizing driving externalities within VMT rates (Case 3) produce far greater reductions in miles driven, fuel use, and transportation sector emissions than fuel taxes internalizing similar externality costs. The switch from E85 to E10 occurs as well but at a much larger magnitude given higher VMT tax rates. IV. Conclusion Our work removes some of the ambiguity surrounding VMT taxes by confirming that mileage taxes have the ability to produce more revenues at both the state and federal levels at the expense of the overall LDV fleet becoming less fuel-efficient; and depending on their level of stringency, they can produce rather noticeable reductions in miles driven, total energy use, and greenhouse gas emissions. There exists potential for economic losses which continue to deepen as VMT tax rates increase. In other words, the higher VMT tax rates become, the more harmful they will be to US economic performance. Switching tax schemes showcased the possibility of spurring variations in the types of “green” fuels consumed. Mileage taxes have proven that they could potentially jumpstart the production of thermochemical gasoline and diesel replacing cellulosic ethanol as a part of the cellulosic biofuel requirement identified under the national RFS. |
| Keywords: | gasoline taxes, mileage taxes, MARKAL, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea15:205296&r=tre |
| By: | Denicoff, Marina R.; Prater, Marvin E.; Bahizi, Pierre |
| Abstract: | America’s farmers depend on transportation as the critical link between the fields of growers and the tables of consumers, both here and abroad. Transportation demand is a derived demand because the production and consumption of an agricultural commodity create the demand for transportation services. As such, it is an essential part of marketing; any change in supply or demand of the underlying commodity or commodities that compete for transportation services can affect the transport system’s efficiency by bringing about either shortages or surpluses in transportation capacity. Freight transportation is a critical element of U.S. agricultural competitiveness in the world grain markets. This report examines transportation implications of the recent trends and outlook for U.S. wheat. •Since the mid-1990’s, U.S. wheat production has remained almost unchanged. The number of acres planted with wheat, however, decreased by almost 20 percent. An increase of over 20 percent in yield has offset the drop in acreage. •Despite unchanged production levels, the United States continues to be a major wheat exporter. Between 2009and 2013, the United States claimed an average 20 percent annually of the world wheat trade. •All three major port regions (the Pacific Northwest (PNW), the Mississippi Gulf, and the Texas Gulf) are used to export wheat. In 2013, 36 percent of wheat was exported through the PNW, 27 percent through the Texas Gulf, and 29 percent through the Mississippi Gulf. •The domestic wheat market is not as dynamic as the export market. Unexpected changes in export demand due to changes in world prices and global annual production levels can pose logistical challenges for U.S. grain shippers and carriers. •According to the February 2014 USDA long-term projections that assume normal growing conditions, U.S. wheat exports are projected to increase slightly, by 1 percent over 10 years, and remain above 1 billion bushels per year. Domestic demand, however, is projected to decrease by 3.5 percent over the next 10 years. •Based on these long-term projections, U.S. wheat exporters will continue to rely on rail service to ship the U.S. wheat to the ports for export, according to the USDA modal share analysis. Domestic demand by the livestock and poultry sectors is serviced by truck and rail. |
| Keywords: | grain, wheat, rail, export, shipping, Agribusiness, Marketing, |
| Date: | 2014–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:uamsrr:189787&r=tre |
| By: | Miller, John |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, |
| Date: | 2015–02–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:usao14:205027&r=tre |
| By: | He, Jen Zheng |
| Keywords: | fuel efficiency, heavy-duty trucks, vehicle miles traveled, shipping efficiency, diesel fuel price, Demand and Price Analysis, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, Q41, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea15:205104&r=tre |
| By: | Eriksen, Ken |
| Keywords: | International Development, International Relations/Trade, Marketing, |
| Date: | 2015–02–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:usao14:205029&r=tre |
| By: | Prater, Marvin; Sparger, Adam; Bahizi, Pierre; O'Neil, Daniel Jr. |
| Abstract: | The share of the grain and oilseed harvest moved by rail has been declining since 1980, when the Federal Motor Carrier Act and the Staggers Rail Act were passed. Large structural changes associated with these Acts affected the decline over the following two decades. Yet, even though the large structural changes had already taken place by 2000, the rail market share of grain and oilseed transportation continued to decline. A State-level statistical model for 21 of the top grain-producing States (which produce 86.6 percent of all grain and oilseeds) investigated the major factors responsible for the decrease in the rail market share of grain and oilseed transportation from 2001 to 2010. Although not every factor affecting the rail market share of grain and oilseed transportation could be captured, 10 statistically significant factors were identified. Of these factors, three were the most important: the growth of ethanol production, the growth of biodiesel production, and increases in animal feeding. |
| Keywords: | grain, transportation, rail, market, Agribusiness, Marketing, |
| Date: | 2013–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:uamsrr:161206&r=tre |
| By: | Prater, Marvin; Sparger, Adam; O'Neil, Daniel Jr. |
| Abstract: | Since the passage of the Staggers Act in 1980, many railroads have merged. The market share of Class I railroads has increased since then, while the number of Class I railroads has fallen to only seven. Through railroad mergers, rail-to-rail competition has been reduced, railroad market power has increased, and rail costs have fallen by over half in real terms. Over much of this period, most of these reduced costs were passed on to shippers as savings through lower rates. Since 2004, however, average rail rates per ton-mile for all commodities have climbed 36 percent, negating some of the savings over the period. Although some of these real rail rate increases have contributed to record rail profitability and capital investment, most of the rate increases are the result of increased railroad costs; real rail costs, adjusted for productivity, increased 29 percent during the same period. Although deregulation of railroads in 1980 produced more than 550 regional and local railroads throughout America, the 7 Class I railroads originated well over half the grain and oilseed shipments in 2011. |
| Keywords: | railroad, train, market share, deregulation, grain, rates, Agribusiness, |
| Date: | 2014–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:uamsrr:164478&r=tre |
| By: | Bento, Antonio M.; Roth, Kevin D.; Wang, Yiwei |
| Abstract: | The Obama administration seeks to tighten the fuel economy standards in the US and the target is to almost double the miles per gallon (MPG) of vehicles by 2025 comparing to that of 2010. With this new aggressive movement, there is an ongoing discussion about whether auto makers could meet the new standards without providing consumers with vehicles that are much lighter and less powerful. In this paper, we investigate how historical changes in the fuel economy standards impacted technological innovation in the automobile industry and estimate the changes in the rate of innovation in response to the changes in the standards. By decomposing innovation growth into natural growth and growth induced by standard changes, we not only show that standard changes can increase innovation growth but are also able to quantify the induced growth rate with respect to the rate of changes in standards. Such method can provide a more precise prediction of the future technological innovation under new standards. |
| Keywords: | CAFE standards, technological growth, regulation and innovation, fuel economy, vehicle attributes, Environmental Economics and Policy, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, L2, L5, Q4, Q5, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea15:206195&r=tre |
| By: | Nuñez, Hector M.; Otero, Jesús |
| Abstract: | We employ a pair-wise approach to analyse regional integration in the gasoline and ethanol markets in Brazil. Using weekly price data for these two fuels at the state level over a period of almost 10 years, we find that more than half of the fuel price differentials are stationary, which reveals the importance of allowing for spatial considerations when testing for market integration. We find that the speed at which prices converge to the long-run equilibrium depends upon the distance between states and the similarity between tax regimes. Other demand and supply factors such as population density, number of gas stations and GDP per capita are not statistically significant. |
| Keywords: | Gasoline, ethanol, prices, market integration, distance, Demand and Price Analysis, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, C33, L11, Q43, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea15:204306&r=tre |