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on Transport Economics |
| By: | OECD |
| Abstract: | This report assesses the impacts of cruise shipping on Piraeus. Piraeus is the largest cruise port in Greece, but its growth has slowed recently and the benefits of cruise shipping for the local economy are not as high as they could be. Cruise ship visits also contribute to worsening air quality and road congestion in the city. This study reviews current economic and environmental policies relating to cruise activities and provides recommendations on how Piraeus could better seize opportunities for local development from cruise shipping. This report is part of the International Transport Forum’s Case-Specific Policy Analysis series. These are topical studies on specific issues carried out by the ITF in agreement with local institutions. |
| Date: | 2017–07–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:itfaac:38-en&r=tre |
| By: | Andrés Gomez-Lobo |
| Abstract: | The main contribution of this paper is to discuss the implications of a ‘soft’ budget constraint on optimal transit fares and subsidies. We find that the effect of productive inefficiencies on optimal fares and subsidy levels depends critically on the way cost reducing effort enters the cost function and on the institutional environment (as measured by the ‘tightness’ of the budget constraint faced by operators). In particular, recognizing that subsidies may have an adverse effect on productive efficiency does not necessarily imply that transit subsidies should be eliminated. Unsurprisingly, there will be a trade-off between the negative cost efficiency effects of transit subsidies and the welfare enhancing allocative efficiencies related to these subsidies. Under certain conditions optimal subsidies may be higher when operators face an intermediate budget constraint than when they face a ‘tight’ budget constraint. We illustrate this last result using a simple numerical example. |
| Date: | 2017–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:udc:wpaper:wp447&r=tre |
| By: | Hory, Marie-Pierre; Organització de Cooperació i Desenvolupament Econòmic, Països de l' |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the interactions between tax policies at the international level (OECD countries). Both contemporaneous and time-delayed tax interactions are considered using Spatial Dynamic Panel Data model from Yu et al. (2008). Moreover, we test if the interdependence between governments exists due to the geographic closeness but also due to the proximity in terms of public investment levels. The results show, on one hand, that there are positive contemporaneous but negative time-delayed interactions. It is compatible with the existence of tax competition in a contemporaneus way, but also with the free-riding phenomena in the time-delayed approach. On the other hand, we show that interactions between countries are higher when they have similar levels of public investment than for the geographical closeness. This last result confirms the theoretical assumption that countries with close infrastructure investment are more likely to achieve tax harmonization. However, the negative time-delayed interactions are not consistent with this hypothesis, proving both tax and infrastructure competition between the OECD countries still exists. JEL Classification: E62, H54, H87 Key Words: Tax Competition; Yardstick Competition; Public Infrastructure Investment; Strategic Interactions; Spatial Dynamic Panel Data model; OECD. |
| Keywords: | Organització de Cooperació i Desenvolupament Econòmic, Països de l', 339 - Comerç. Relacions econòmiques internacionals. Economia mundial. Màrqueting, |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:urv:wpaper:2072/290763&r=tre |
| By: | Caterina Gennaioli (School of Business and Management, Queen Mary University of London.); Gaia Narciso (Department of Economics, Trinity College Dublin) |
| Abstract: | Illegal disposal of toxic waste has become an issue of concern in both developing and developed countries. Recycling hazardous waste entails very high costs, which might give strong incentives to dispose toxic material in an illegal way. This paper adopts an innovative strategy to identify where toxic waste might have been illicitly dumped. The strategy relies on a crucial premise: road constructions provide an ideal setting in which the burial of hazardous waste may take place. Guided by the medical literature, we investigate the health outcomes of individuals living along recently constructed roads in Ethiopia. We construct a unique dataset, which includes the extensive Demographic and Health Survey, together with georeferenced data on roads, villages and economic development, covering a 10-year period. We find that an additional road within a 5 kilometres radius is associated with an increase in infant mortality by 3 percentage points. Moreover, we provide evidence that young children living near a recently built road show a lower level of haemoglobin and are more likely to suffer from severe anaemia. A series of robustness checks confirms the above findings and excludes other potential confounding factors. |
| Keywords: | Hazardous Waste, Health, Infant Mortality, Ethiopia |
| JEL: | I15 Q51 Q53 O10 |
| Date: | 2017–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tcd:tcduee:tep1817&r=tre |
| By: | Yueh-Tzu Lu (Graduate School of Management, National Cheng Kung University); Mototsugu Fukushige (Graduate School of Economics, Osaka University) |
| Abstract: | We applied Smeed fs Law to Japanese prefectural data from between 1988 and 2016. We found that the coefficient for the number of vehicles was stable over the estimation period, but that the constant term decreased gradually. We decomposed fatalities per capita into fatalities per accidents and accidents per capita, and applied regression equations to the data. We conclude the following from this study. First, the relationship between fatalities per capita and the number of registered vehicles per capita was stable, which is consistent with Smeed fs Law. Second, the effects of technological advances have changed the estimated coefficients for time dummies. The role of hospitals may be difficult to incorporate into Smeed fs Law because of the complicated relationship between the distance to hospital and fatalities per capita. |
| Keywords: | Smeed fs Law, Traffic Accidents, Fatalities, Hospitals |
| JEL: | R41 I18 R42 |
| Date: | 2017–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osk:wpaper:1722&r=tre |
| By: | Oleg Malafeyev; Konstantin Farvazov; Olga Zenovich |
| Abstract: | Two geopolitical actors implement a geopolitical project that involves transportaion and storage of some commodities. They interact with each other through a transport network. The network consists of several interconnected vertices. Some of the vetrices are trading hubs, storage spaces, production hubs and goods buyers. Actors wish to satify the demand of buyers and recieve the highest possible profit subject to compromise solution principle. A numerical example is given. |
| Date: | 2017–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:1707.06829&r=tre |
| By: | Boopendra seetanah (Uni of Mauritius) |
| Abstract: | The objective of the present study is two-fold. Firstly, to assess the impact of air access liberalization on tourism demand for Mauritius and secondly to analyse the dual impact of the interplay between air access liberalization and marketing promotion efforts on tourism demand. Using an Autoregressive Distributed Lag model, the results suggest that air access liberalisation is an important ingredient, albeit to a lesser extent as compared to other classical explanatory variables, of tourism demand. The results also highlight the fact that Mauritius is perceived as a luxurious destination and tourists are also deemed to be price sensitive. Moreover our dynamic approach interestingly confirms the presence of repeat tourism in the island. Finally, the findings also uncover the positive impact of the interplay between air access liberalization and marketing promotion efforts on fostering tourism demand. |
| Keywords: | Air Transport Liberalisation, Tourism, Autoregressive Distributed Lag Model. |
| JEL: | C22 F19 |
| Date: | 2017–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sek:iacpro:5207098&r=tre |