|
on Transport Economics |
| By: | Berliant, Marcus |
| Abstract: | We examine the fine microstructure of commuting in a game-theoretic setting with a continuum of commuters. Commuters' home and work locations can be heterogeneous. A commuter transport network is exogenous. Traffic speed is determined by link capacity and by local congestion at a time and place along a link, where local congestion at a time and place is endogenous. The model can be reinterpreted to apply to congestion on the internet. We find sufficient conditions for existence of equilibrium, that multiple equilibria are ubiquitous, and that the welfare properties of morning and evening commute equilibria differ. |
| Keywords: | Commuting; Congestion externality; Efficient Nash equilibrium |
| JEL: | L86 R41 |
| Date: | 2017–03–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:77378&r=tre |
| By: | Dina N. Elshahawany (Zagazig University); Eduardo A. Haddad; Michael L. Lahr |
| Abstract: | The potential ability of transport infrastructure investments to produce transport benefits depends on the travel time reductions and accessibility. In this paper, we use an interregional computable general equilibrium (CGE) model to estimate the economic impacts of transportation cost change due specifically to changes in accessibility induced by new transportation projects. The model is integrated with a stylized geo-coded transportation network model to help quantify the spatial effects of transportation cost change. The analysis is focus on a proposed development corridor in Egypt. A main component of the project is a desert-based expansion of the current highway network. The paper focuses on the likely structural economic impacts that such a large investment in transportation could enable through a series of simulations. It is clear that an integrated spatial CGE model can be useful in estimating the potential economic impacts of transportation projects in Egypt. In this vein, this or similar models should support government decisions on such projects. |
| Date: | 2016–01–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:erg:wpaper:1049&r=tre |
| By: | Carrara, Samuel; Longden, Thomas |
| Abstract: | This paper describes changes to the modelling of the transport sector in the WITCH (World Induced Technical Change Hybrid) model to incorporate road freight and account for the intensity of freight with respect to GDP. Modelling freight demand based on the intensity of freight with respect to GDP allows for a focus on the importance of road freight with respect to the cost-effective achievement of climate policy targets. These climate policy targets are explored using different GDP pathways between 2005 and 2100, which are sourced from the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs) database. Our modelling shows that the decarbonisation of the freight sector tends to occur in the second part of the century and the sector decarbonises by a lower extent than the rest of the economy. Decarbonising road freight on a global scale remains a challenge even when notable progress in biofuels and electric vehicles has been accounted for. |
| Keywords: | Road Freight, Transport, Climate Mitigation, Integrated Assessment Models, Environmental Economics and Policy, Q54, Q58, R41, |
| Date: | 2017–03–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:feemmi:253731&r=tre |
| By: | Ncube, Prince; Cheteni, Priviledge; Sindiyandiya, Kholeka |
| Abstract: | Road related fatalities remain high in South Africa compared to other African nations. The purpose of this study was to analyse the determinants of road accident fatalities in South Africa’s transport sector. The determinants were examined using the ordinary least squares (OLS) method. The results suggest that drunken driving, paved roads and use of seatbelts are some of the determinants in the number of road related fatalities. The study recommends that the South African government put strict measures in dealing with drunk driving that has contributed to the unnecessary loss of life, especially during holiday periods. |
| Keywords: | drunk driving, road safety management, Haddon matrix, enforcement, seatbelts |
| JEL: | H0 M2 R4 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:77357&r=tre |
| By: | Shanjun Li (Cornell University); Chao Wei (George Washington University) |
| Abstract: | During the recent economic crisis, many countries have adopted stimulus programs designed to achieve two goals: to stimulate economic activity in lagging durable goods sectors and to protect or even enhance environmental quality. The environmental bene ts are often viewed and much advocated as co-bene ts of economic stimulus. This paper investigates the potential tradeo between the stimulus and environmental objectives in the context of the popular U.S. Cash-for-Clunkers (CFC) program by developing and estimating a dynamic discrete choice model of vehicle ownership. Results from counterfactual analysis show that design elements to achieve environmental bene ts could signi cantly limit the program impact on demand stimulus: the cost of demand stimulus after netting out environmental bene ts under the program could be 43 percent higher in terms of vehicle sales and 38 percent higher in terms of consumer spending than that from alternative policy designs without explicitly aiming at the environmental objective. |
| Keywords: | Stimulus, Discrete Choice Model, Vehicle Scrappage |
| JEL: | E62 H23 H31 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gwi:wpaper:2016-25&r=tre |
| By: | Okoye, Dozie; Pongou, Roland; Yokossi, Tite |
| Abstract: | Exploring heterogeneity in the impact of a technology is a first step towards understanding conditions under which this technology is conducive to economic development. This article shows that colonial railroads in Nigeria have large long-lasting impacts on individual and local development in the North, but virtually no impact in the South neither in the short run nor in the long run. This heterogeneous impact of the railway can be accounted for by the distance to ports of export. We highlight the fact that the railway had no impact in areas that had access to ports of export, thanks to their proximity to the coast and to their use of waterways, and that those areas barely adopted the railway as it did not reduce their shipping costs. Our analyses rule out the possibility that the heterogeneous impacts are driven by cohort effects, presence of major roads, early cities, or missionary activity, or by crude oil production. |
| Keywords: | Impact Heterogeneity, Colonial Investments, Railway, Africa, Long-run Effects, Development, Nigeria |
| JEL: | N3 N30 N37 N7 O1 O15 O18 R0 |
| Date: | 2017–02–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:77293&r=tre |
| By: | Thando Vilakazi; Anthea Paelo |
| Abstract: | Rapid urbanization and rising income levels in Southern Africa have increased the consumption of perishable and processed food products. This paper relies primarily on firm-level interview data to assess competition and bottlenecks in transporting time-sensitive perishable products across borders between Harare, Johannesburg, Lilongwe, and Lusaka. High transport prices in 2015—almost double the benchmark rates applied and rates for transportation of commodities—are partly explained by concentration in Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, and lack of return loads to Johannesburg. Rates could be significantly reduced through a platform for co-ordinating access to return loads, reducing delays at borders, and effectively implementing pre-clearance procedures. |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp2017-49&r=tre |
| By: | Fabienne Fortanier (OECD); Guannan Miao (OECD) |
| Abstract: | Although the costs associated with the international transport and insurance of merchandise trade are an important determinant of the volume and geography of international trade, remarkably little (official) data exist. Combining the largest and most detailed cross-country sample of official national statistics on explicit CIF-FOB margins to date with estimates from an econometric gravity model, and using a novel approach to pool product codes across HS vintages, this paper presents the new OECD Database on International Transport and Insurance Costs (ITIC) that aims to fill this gap, and describes the methodology used in its construction. The database details the bilateral, product level international trade and insurance costs for more than 180 countries and partners, over 1 000 individual products, for the 1995-2014 time period, and provides an important new tool to further our understanding of global value chains, whilst also forming an important statistical input to the development of coherent and balanced bilateral trade statistics and to the TiVA database. In particular the database provides potential new insights on how distance, natural barriers such as mountain ranges, and inadequate infrastructure, shape regional (and global) value chains. |
| Keywords: | CIF-FOB margins, International merchandise trade, International transport and insurance costs |
| JEL: | F10 F14 |
| Date: | 2017–03–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:stdaaa:2017/4-en&r=tre |
| By: | Remi Jedwab (George Washington University); Adam Storeygard (Tufts University) |
| Keywords: | Transportation Infrastructure; Public Investment; Railroads; Roads; Paved Roads; Africa; Growth; Institutions; History; World Development Indicators |
| JEL: | O18 O11 O20 H54 R11 R12 R40 N77 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gwi:wpaper:2017-3&r=tre |
| By: | Chong Song (University of International Business and Economics); Chao Wei (George Washington University) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we use ve decades of time-use surveys in the U.S. to document trends in travel time uses. We nd that total travel time features an inverted-U shape, registering a 20 percent increase from 1975 to 1993, but an 18 percent decline from 1993 to 2013. We nd that demographic shifts explain roughly 45 percent of the increase from 1975 to 1993, but play a much smaller role afterwards. From 2003 to 2013 the shift of time allocation from travel-intensive non-market work to travel-non-intensive leisure accounts for around 50 percent of the decline in total travel time. |
| Keywords: | Travel time use, Tume-use survey, Market work, Non-market work, Leisure |
| JEL: | J22 R41 D13 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gwi:wpaper:2016-24&r=tre |
| By: | Alexander C. Lembcke; Carlo Menon |
| Abstract: | This paper develops an indicator that combines the area that residents can reach within a certain time of travel with population density to create a proxy for “accessibility”, i.e. access to employment and consumption opportunities. Using a large scale firm level dataset, with nearly one million firm year observations over 14 years, the paper quantifies the link between firm-level outcomes and the change in accessibility in Korea due to the expansion of the network of major roads. The results suggest that the most productive firms benefited in terms of employment, output, and productivity, as accessibility improved. For the majority of incumbent firms, improved accessibility leaves most balance sheet variables broadly unaffected, but is associated with a decrease in fixed assets. The estimates also suggest that there was little job displacement, with the exception of service sectors where employment increased in response to improved local accessibility and declined for long distance accessibility. |
| Keywords: | accessibility, capital, employment, firm-level data, highways, productivity, roads |
| JEL: | L23 R12 R32 R40 |
| Date: | 2017–03–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:govaab:2017/1-en&r=tre |
| By: | Paul E. Carrillo (George Washington University); Andrea Lopez (George Washington University); Arun Malik (George Washington University) |
| Keywords: | Crime, Difference-in-Differences, Regression Discontinuity, Crime displace- ment |
| JEL: | C20 Q52 R28 R48 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gwi:wpaper:2016-31&r=tre |
| By: | Lorenz, Olga; Goerke, Laszlo |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the causal relationship between commuting distance and height-adjusted weight (BMI) in Germany, using micro-level data for the period 2004 – 2012. In contrast to previous papers, we find no evidence that longer commutes are associated with a higher BMI. The non-existence of a relationship between BMI and commuting distance prevails when physical activity and eating habits are adjusted for. |
| JEL: | D00 I12 R41 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc16:145569&r=tre |
| By: | Thierry Blayac (Université de Montpellier; LAMETA); Patrice Bougette (Université Côte d'Azur; GREDEG CNRS) |
| Abstract: | The opening up of the French long-distance bus industry is one of the outcomes of the Loi Macron. In this study, we build a unique data set of several representative bus routes and show that the effects of the liberalization have been encouraging in terms of fares, new entry, higher frequency, and higher quality. First, with regard to international routes that used to be under cabotage, we find that relaxing quantitative restrictions has led to the expected results on the Lyon-Torino and Paris-London routes. Second, with regard to domestic routes newly created from the Loi Macron, mostly all procompetitive expected variations in the variables have been observed, except for fares. Indeed, we show that bus operators used an initial aggressive pricing strategy to induce demand for the new services and then increased fares once customers became accustomed with the service. |
| Keywords: | Transportation services, deregulation, bus industry, Loi Macron, intermodal competition, France |
| JEL: | L43 L91 G38 R40 |
| Date: | 2017–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gre:wpaper:2017-09&r=tre |