nep-tre New Economics Papers
on Transport Economics
Issue of 2019‒04‒15
eleven papers chosen by
Erik Teodoor Verhoef
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

  1. Optimal policies for electromobility: Joint assessment of transport and electricity distribution costs in Norway By Brevik Wangsness, Paal; Proost, Stef; Løvold Rødseth , Kenneth
  2. Understanding consumer demand for new transport technologies and services, and implications for the future of mobility By Akshay Vij
  3. Charging the Future: Challenges and Opportunities for Electric Vehicle Adoption By Lee, Henry; Clark, Alex
  4. Spatial Competition of Two-level Hierarchical Transportation Systems under Economies of Scale in Transportation Cost By NISHIDA, Kiheiji
  5. Hump-shaped cross-price effects and the extensive margin in cross-border shopping By Steen, Frode
  6. The Determinants of Economic Growth: The Role of Infrastructure By Fosu, Prince
  7. Transport Price, Product Differentiation and R&D in an Oligopoly By Kanehara, Daishoku; Kamei, Keita
  8. Convex hull results for generalizations of the constant capacity single node flow set By FINANCE Olivier,; ADAM Arnaud,; JONES Jonathan,; THOMAS Isabelle,
  9. Ship recycling: An overview By Karin Gourdon
  10. (Martingale) Optimal Transport And Anomaly Detection With Neural Networks: A Primal-dual Algorithm By Pierre Henry-Labord`ere
  11. An analysis of market-distorting factors in shipbuilding: The role of government interventions By Karin Gourdon

  1. By: Brevik Wangsness, Paal (School of Economics and Business, Norwegian University of Life Sciences); Proost, Stef (Department of Economics-KULeuven); Løvold Rødseth , Kenneth (Institute of Transport Economics)
    Abstract: We observe a rapidly rising share of the passenger car fleet becoming electric as policy makers keep making the purchase and use of electric vehicles (EVs) more favorable in the pursuit of reducing pollution. The electrification of transport will make the transport and energy systems more intertwined: EV-friendly transport policies increase the demand for power, thus challenging the distribution grid’s capacity, while electricity policies immediately impact on the generalized costs of driving EVs. This paper develops a stylized economic model for passenger transport in the greater Oslo area where the agents’ endogenous choice of car ownership, transport pattern and EV home charging is determined jointly in equilibrium. If enough EV-owning agents charge during power peak hours, costly grid expansions may be needed. We examine how the distribution grid company can respond in order to mitigate these costs with different pricing schemes and how this in turn affects the transport equilibrium. We find that applying peak tariffs for the grid will help strike a better balance between investment costs and EV-owners’ disutility of charging during off-peak hours.
    Keywords: electric vehicles; climate policy; urban transport policy; transport modeling; electricity distribution costs
    JEL: H71 Q41 Q48 Q54 Q58 R41 R48
    Date: 2019–04–09
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:nlsseb:2019_001&r=all
  2. By: Akshay Vij
    Abstract: The transport sector is witnessing unprecedented levels of disruption. Privately owned cars that operate on internal combustion engines have been the dominant modes of passenger transport for much of the last century. However, recent advances in transport technologies and services, such as the development of autonomous vehicles, the emergence of shared mobility services, and the commercialization of alternative fuel vehicle technologies, promise to revolutionise how humans travel. The implications are profound: some have predicted the end of private car dependent Western societies, others have portended greater suburbanization than has ever been observed before. If transport systems are to fulfil current and future needs of different subpopulations, and satisfy short and long-term societal objectives, it is imperative that we comprehend the many factors that shape individual behaviour. This chapter introduces the technologies and services most likely to disrupt prevailing practices in the transport sector. We review past studies that have examined current and future demand for these new technologies and services, and their likely short and long-term impacts on extant mobility patterns. We conclude with a summary of what these new technologies and services might mean for the future of mobility.
    Date: 2019–04
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:1904.05554&r=all
  3. By: Lee, Henry (Harvard Kennedy School); Clark, Alex (Climate Policy Initiative)
    Abstract: Electric vehicles (EVs) have advanced significantly this decade, owing in part to decreasing battery costs. Yet EVs remain more costly than gasoline fueled vehicles over their useful life. This paper analyzes the additional advances that will be needed, if electric vehicles are to significantly penetrate the passenger vehicle fleet.
    Date: 2018–09
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecl:harjfk:rwp18-026&r=all
  4. By: NISHIDA, Kiheiji
    Abstract: In this short paper, we consider how the hierarchical structure in transportation, in which goods are transported from demand points to nearby terminal stations in the first level of hierarchy and from station to station in the second, emerges in competition between transportation companies having economies of scale in volume and distance. We conmpare the competitive and planning locations of terminal stations of the hierarchical system using a Hotelling-style spatial competition model (1929). We find that a competitive location can be generated in an area where the planning location can never be generated. We also find no difference between the two when point-to-point transportation is replaced by transportation in bulk.
    Keywords: Hierarchy system, Economy of scale in volume, Economy of scale in travelling distance, Competitive location, Planning location.
    JEL: R41
    Date: 2018
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:93063&r=all
  5. By: Steen, Frode
    Abstract: This paper examines the effect of cross-border shopping on grocery demand in Norway using monthly store*category sales data from Norway's largest grocery chain 2011-2016. The sensitivity of demand to foreign price is hump-shaped and greatest 30-60 minutes' driving distance from the closest foreign store. Combining continuous demand, fixed costs of cross-border shopping and linear transport costs `a la Hotelling we show how this hump-shape can arise through a combination of intensive and extensive margins of cross-border shopping. Our conclusions are further supported by novel survey evidence and cross-border traffic data.
    Keywords: competition in grocery markets; Cross-border shopping; product differentiation
    JEL: F15 H73 L66 R20
    Date: 2019–04
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:13650&r=all
  6. By: Fosu, Prince
    Abstract: The main objectives of the study were to examine the effect of infrastructure (i.e. railway network) on economic growth and to examine the direction of causality between economic growth and infrastructure using historical data covering the period of 1980 to 2016 and cointegration analysis. The findings from the study revealed a positive and significant effect of infrastructure on economic growth in the long-run however, the effect of infrastructure on economic growth was not significant in the short-run analysis. Also, the test of causality found a unidirectional causality running from economic growth to infrastructure. To increase economic growth in the United States, this study recommends that both the Federal and the State Government should increase its investments in infrastructure spending especially in railways.
    Keywords: economic growth, infrastructure, inflation, trade deficit, United States
    JEL: O4 O44 R1 R4 R42
    Date: 2019–04–01
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:93101&r=all
  7. By: Kanehara, Daishoku; Kamei, Keita
    Abstract: This study incorporates transport price and endogenous product differentiation in an international oligopoly. Assuming endogenous determination of transport price based on the profit maximization of the transporter and using a three-stage game, we analyze the effect of the degree and difficulty of product differentiation on transport price. We show that both negatively affect the endogenous transport price. The intuition of this result comes from that the positive effect of a decrease in endogenous transport price on the demand for the differentiated products is greater than the negative effect on the price.
    Keywords: Endogenous Product Differentiation; International Trade; Oligopoly; Product R&D; Transport Price.
    JEL: F12 L13 L16 O1
    Date: 2019–04–07
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:93148&r=all
  8. By: FINANCE Olivier, (CORE, UCLouvain); ADAM Arnaud, (CORE, UCLouvain); JONES Jonathan, (VIAPASS EIR/IRE); THOMAS Isabelle, (CORE, UCLouvain)
    Abstract: Avec la multiplication des capteurs, nous disposons désormais de quantités massives de données à l’échelon individuel. Dans cette contribution, nous illustrons comment une nouvelle source de données issue du système de prélèvement kilométrique des camions en Belgique peut présenter une plus-value pour le géographe. Dans ce cas précis, le suivi spatio-temporel quasi-exhaustif des camions est utilisé afin de dessiner une géographie précise des circulations de camions en Belgique et d’explorer la place spécifique de Liège dans ce réseau. La quasi-exhaustivité de ces données nous permet-elle réellement de dépasser les biais classiques telles l’agrégation ou la représentativité des données ? En quoi révèlent-elles l’ADN des territoires? Tout en discutant l’apport des «big-data», en particulier en géographie des transports, nous présentons la méthodologie mise en oeuvre pour passer des données GPS brutes à une matrice origines-destinations plus classique. Plusieurs méthodologies sont appliquées à cette matrice pour révéler comment les big-data peuvent nous aider à révéler une facette de la polarisation économique d’une ville.
    Keywords: big-data, interactions, transport, traces spatio-temporelles, hinterland, polarisation
    Date: 2018–12–07
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cor:louvco:2018033&r=all
  9. By: Karin Gourdon
    Abstract: This report includes an overview of the ship recycling market by providing descriptive statistics, describing the determinants for the decision of ship-owners to demolish vessels, and elaborating on the main market players and the economics of ship recycling. It furthermore provides an outlook of demolition volumes based on ship value estimates, and assesses the impact of the latest implemented international regulation – the Ballast Water Management Convention – on the industry. Since this market faces challenges to recycle vessels in an environmentally sustainable and health-protecting way, the report offers ideas to help solving these difficulties by looking at policies implemented in other industries. Special focus is given to the aircraft and vehicle industries as their characteristics in terms of recycling approach and earnings model are relevant to ship recycling. Most of the presented policies and initiatives have at least one aspect in common, namely the shared responsibility throughout the supply chain.
    Keywords: Recycling policies, Ship recycling
    Date: 2019–04–12
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:stiaac:68-en&r=all
  10. By: Pierre Henry-Labord`ere (SOCIETE GENERALE)
    Abstract: In this paper, we introduce a primal-dual algorithm for solving (martingale) optimal transportation problems, with cost functions satisfying the twist condition, close to the one that has been used recently for training generative adversarial networks. As some additional applications, we consider anomaly detection and automatic generation of financial data.
    Date: 2019–04
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:1904.04546&r=all
  11. By: Karin Gourdon
    Abstract: This report analyses market-distorting factors in the shipbuilding industry with a focus on government interventions. This paper argues that government interventions in this cyclical industry do more harm than good by exacerbating and prolonging economic downturns through two channels. First, it promotes an over-ordering of vessels through lower delivery time, distorting ship buyers’ investment behaviour. Second, it may maintain unproductive capacity in the market that re-enters a new economic cycle, restarting the vicious circle of industrial excess capacity. Against the background of the global nature of this industry, these channels reinforce the case for effective international disciplines on government interventions. Overall, the mature nature of the shipbuilding industry undermines the need for an active industrial policy, beyond facilitating structural adjustment, and emphasizes the necessity for a horizontal policy approach. The work seeks to provide policy makers with a better understanding of how different factors can contribute to excess capacity.
    Keywords: Excess Capacity, Government Support, Shipbuilding
    Date: 2019–04–12
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:stiaac:67-en&r=all

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