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on Transport Economics |
| By: | Nicholas J. Sanders; Ryan Sandler |
| Abstract: | Personal automobile emissions are a major source of urban air pollution. Many U.S. states control emissions through mandated vehicle inspections and repairs. But there is little empirical evidence directly linking mandated inspections, maintenance, and local air pollution levels. To test for a link, we estimate the contemporaneous effect of inspections on local air quality. We use day-to-day, within-county variation in the number of vehicles repaired and recertified after failing an initial emissions inspection, with individual-level data from 1998–2012 from California’s inspection program. Additional re-inspections of pre-1985 model year vehicles reduce local carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide, and particulate matter levels, while re-inspections of newer vehicles with more modern engine technology have no economically significant effect on air pollution. This suggests emissions inspections have become less effective at reducing local air pollution as more high-polluting vehicles from the 1970s and 1980s leave the road, and provides an example of how the social efficiency of programs can change under improving technologies. We also estimate the importance of station quality, using a metric devised for California’s new STAR certification program. We show re-inspections of older vehicles conducted by low quality inspection stations do not change air pollution, while inspections at high quality stations have a moderate effect on pollution concentrations, which suggests the potential for ineffective monitoring at low quality inspection stations. We find little effect on ambient ozone levels, regardless of station quality or vehicle age. |
| JEL: | Q52 Q53 Q58 |
| Date: | 2017–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:23966&r=tre |
| By: | Daniel Albalate (GiM-IREA, Universitat de Barcelona); Paula Bel-Piñana (GiM-IREA, Universitat de Barcelona) |
| Abstract: | Public Private Partnerships (PPP) have become common in providing high-quality infrastructure in many countries worldwide. One of the main reasons for PPP agreements is to improve efficiency and quality in the delivery of public services, as well as to boost investments for expensive projects. Despite PPPs having been particularly widespread in the case of the construction and rehabilitation of high-capacity road infrastructure, their impact in terms of road safety outcomes is still unexplored. This paper studies the effects of PPPs on road safety outcomes by taking advantage of the variety of management models provided in the Spanish highway network. Results based on a panel-data fixed-effects method show that the most relevant aspect influencing road safety outcomes is the quality of design of the road. However, we find strong evidence suggesting that privately operated highways perform better in terms of road safety outcomes than publicly operated highways, for roads with a similar quality of design. |
| Keywords: | Public Private Partnership, highway, road safety, management |
| JEL: | H23 I18 L33 |
| Date: | 2017–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:xrp:wpaper:xreap2017-08&r=tre |
| By: | Fosgerau, Mogens; Jiang, Gege |
| Abstract: | This paper sets up a rational inattention model for the choice of departure time for a traveler facing random travel time. The traveler chooses how much information to acquire about the travel time outcome before choosing departure time. This reduces the cost of travel time variability compared to models in which the information is exogenously fixed. |
| Keywords: | rational inattention; random travel time variability; value of reliability; discrete choice |
| JEL: | D1 D8 R4 |
| Date: | 2017–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:82248&r=tre |
| By: | Michael Jetter; Saskia Moesle; David Stadelmann |
| Abstract: | This paper revisits the hypothesis that landlocked regions are systematically poorer than regions with ocean access, using panel data for 1,527 subnational regions in 83 nations from 1950-2014. This data structure allows us to exploit within-country-time variation only (e.g., regional variation within France at one point in time), thereby controlling for a host of unobservables related to country-level particularities, such as a country's unique history, cultural attributes, or political institutions. Our results suggest lacking ocean access decreases regional GDP per capita by 10 - 13 percent. We then explore potential mechanisms and possible remedies. First, national political institutions appear to play a marginal role at best in the landlocked-income relationship. Second, the income gap between landlocked and non-landlocked regions within the same nation widens as i) GDP per capita rises, ii) international trade becomes more relevant for the nation, and iii) national production shifts to manufacturing. Finally, we find evidence consistent with the hypothesis that national infrastructure (i.e., transport-related infrastructure and rail lines) can alleviate the lagging behind of landlocked regions. |
| Keywords: | landlockedness, geography, GDP per capita, trade openness, infrastructure |
| JEL: | E43 H54 O18 O40 R12 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_6733&r=tre |
| By: | Ahlfeldt, Gabriel M.; Wendland, Nicolai |
| Abstract: | We show that an employment potential capitalisation model produces estimates of the spatial decay in employment impact on land prices that are very close to the decay observed in commuting data. |
| Keywords: | Accessibility; commuting; employment; gravity; potential |
| JEL: | R12 R38 R48 |
| Date: | 2016–04–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:66128&r=tre |
| By: | Stephan Fretz; Raphaël Parchet; Frédéric Robert-Nicoud |
| Abstract: | We design a spatial model featuring workers embodied with heterogeneous skills. In equilibrium, locations with improved market access become relatively more attractive to the high-skilled, high-income earners. We then empirically analyze the effects of the construction of the Swiss highway network between 1960 and 2010 on the distribution of income at the local level, as well as on employment and commuting by education level. We find that the advent of a new highway access within 10km led to a long-term 19%-increase of the share of high-income taxpayers and a 6%-decrease of the share of low-income taxpayers. Results are similar for employment data decomposed by education level, as well as for in- and out-commuters. Highways also contributed to job and residential urban sprawl. |
| Keywords: | transportation, highway, market access, income sorting |
| JEL: | D31 O18 H54 R11 R23 |
| Date: | 2017–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:sercdp:0227&r=tre |
| By: | Dzhamaev, Donat Sh.; Okulov, Vitaliy L. |
| Abstract: | The paper is an empirical investigation which goal is estimation of premiums to the market values of the companies that use price hedging instruments. The sample is comprised of the publicly traded airline companies of BRIC countries in 2000-2014. The results of the investigation suggest that the value premium for price risk hedging on the BRIC airlines market can be as large as 15%and the source of the premium can be attributed to the interaction of hedging with investment. |
| Keywords: | risk management, hedging, price risk, airline companies, BRIC, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sps:cpaper:8618&r=tre |