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on Transport Economics |
| By: | Chakraborty, Debapriya; Bunch, David S.; Lee, Jae Hyun; Tal, Gil |
| Abstract: | Government agencies, utilities, automakers, and charging network companies are increasingly investing in charging infrastructure to encourage the adoption of plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs), which include both battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs). Public infrastructure is particularly important for those without access to home charging and for vehicles with driving range limitations. However, it is difficult to quantify the optimal number and location of public chargers needed for a growing number of PEVs. Finding the answer will depend on a mix of behavioral and economic factors that drive charging demand. Much is at stake. Too little infrastructure could cause congestion at the chargers and inhibit the adoption and use of PEVs, while developing more infrastructure than is needed would create unnecessary costs. For example, Level 2 public chargers can cost up to 15 times more than Level 2 at-home chargers. Researchers at UC Davis analyzed the choice of charging infrastructure of more than 3,000 PEV commuters who had access to home, work, and public locations to understand the importance of various factors driving demand for charging infrastructure at the three locations. Key factors include the cost of charging, driver characteristics, accessibility of charging infrastructure, and vehicle characteristics. |
| Keywords: | Engineering |
| Date: | 2020–11–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:itsdav:qt7xq3s2br&r=all |
| By: | Muehlegger, Erich PhD; Rapson, David PhD |
| Abstract: | California has adopted aggressive vehicle electrification goals as a means of reducing urban air pollution, carbon emissions, and overall petroleum consumption. The state has several programs to encourage electric vehicle adoption, including the Enhanced Fleet Modernization Program, which was initially piloted in two California air districts and recently expanded to other regions. The program offers subsidies to low- and middle-income residents to scrap their old higher-polluting vehicle and purchase lower-polluting hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and battery electric vehicles, with more generous incentives for residents in disadvantaged zip codes. The extent to which this and other incentive programs help to achieve environmental policy goals depends on the emissions reduced by electric vehicles, and the emissions of the vehicle that would have been purchased had the consumer not chosen an electric vehicle. A household that purchases an electric vehicle will generate a larger environmental benefit if it would have otherwise purchased a gas guzzler rather than a gas sipper. The choice of replacement vehicle also has important implications for projecting future fuel tax revenues. If EVs replace gas sippers, fuel tax revenues will decline more slowly. If they replace gas guzzlers, fuel tax revenues will decline more quickly. To answer these questions, researchers at UC Davis compared the average fuel economy of vehicles purchased in disadvantaged zip codes inside and outside of air districts participating in the Enhanced Fleet Modernization Program, before and after the program began. This quasiexperimental design gives a reasonable estimate of what would have happened without the subsidy. |
| Keywords: | Social and Behavioral Sciences |
| Date: | 2020–11–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:itsdav:qt1hr93046&r=all |
| By: | Brändle, Gregor (Energiewirtschaftliches Institut an der Universitaet zu Koeln (EWI)); Schönfisch, Max (Energiewirtschaftliches Institut an der Universitaet zu Koeln (EWI)); Schulte, Simon (Energiewirtschaftliches Institut an der Universitaet zu Koeln (EWI)) |
| Abstract: | As part of the decarbonisation of the global economy, low-carbon hydrogen is expected to play a central role in future energy systems. This article presents a comprehensive approach for estimating the development of global production and supply costs of low-carbon hydrogen from renewable energy sources (RES) and natural gas until 2050. For hydrogen from RES, globally distributed wind and solar photovoltaics (PV) potentials are taken as inputs for low or high temperature electrolysers. A linear optimisation model minimises hydrogen production costs by determining optimal capacity ratios for each RES and electrolyser combination, based on hourly RES electricity generation profiles. For low-carbon hydrogen from natural gas, natural gas reforming with carbon capture and storage (CCS) and pyrolysis are considered. In addition to production costs, this analysis assesses the costs associated with the transportation of hydrogen by ship or pipeline. The combination of production and transportation costs yields a ranking of cost-optimal supply sources for individual countries. Estimation results suggest that natural gas reforming with CCS will be the most cost-efficient low-carbon hydrogen production pathway in the medium term (2020-2030). Production of hydrogen from RES could become competitive in the long run (2030-2050) if capital costs decrease significantly. Optimal long-term hydrogen supply routes depend on regional characteristics, such as RES conditions and gas prices. Imports are cost-effective where domestic production potential is small and/or cost-intensive. Additionally, good import conditions exist for countries which are connected to prospective low-cost exporters via existing natural gas pipelines that can be retrofitted to transport hydrogen. Due to high costs for seaborne transport, hydrogen trade will most likely be concentrated regionally, and markets with different provision schemes could emerge. The results are highly sensitive to capital cost assumptions and natural gas prices. |
| Keywords: | Low-Carbon Hydrogen; Hydrogen Production; Hydrogen Transportation; Levelised Cost |
| JEL: | Q40 Q42 Q49 |
| Date: | 2020–11–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:ewikln:2020_004&r=all |
| By: | Jose L. Zofio (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain); Jorge Diaz-Lanchas (European Commission - JRC); Damiaan Persyn (European Commission - JRC); Javier Barbero (European Commission - JRC) |
| Abstract: | This paper undertakes the simultaneous estimation of import elasticities of substitution (trade elasticities) within European Union (EU) regions, differentiating between imports from regions belonging to the same country (national or interregional trade) and regions belonging to other EU countries (international trade within the EU). We use a nested CES utility structure to derive the corresponding trade gravity equations and estimate them by way of Poisson pseudo-maximum likelihood regression. As the EU is a single market, the usual approach followed in the international trade literature that relies on changes in bilateral tariffs cannot be used to identify the trade elasticities. To address this issue, a very detailed definition and calculation of the ad valorem specification of transport costs is performed. The methodology takes into account the transport engineering and logistic characteristics of road freight transportation, which allows us to obtain a reliable measure of the generalized transport costs between regions. Trade elasticities are calculated at several levels of industrial aggregation, including individual sectors at 2-digit CPA classification, and their higher-level categories corresponding to agriculture, mining, and manufacturing. Results show that the trade elasticity increases the closer are the trading partners; i.e., national vs. foreign elasticities, thereby providing the first evidence of this widely presumed hypothesis. National trade elasticities are broadly double the value of their foreign counterparts. We also find that trade elasticities substantially decrease as commodities are considered at a higher level of aggregation. Our calculated trade elasticities can be adopted in a wide array of models of international trade, or spatial economic models such as Regional Computable General Equilibrium models (e.g. the RHOMOLO model), improving the results obtained from simulations aimed at policy analysis. |
| Keywords: | Gravity equation, trade elasticities, interregional trade, international trade, generalized transportation costs |
| JEL: | C21 C68 F12 F17 R41 |
| Date: | 2020–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:termod:202005&r=all |
| By: | Edwards, Alexandria (The Johns Hopkins Institute for Applied Economics, Global Health, and the Study of Business Enterprise) |
| Abstract: | In recent years, there has been a sharp growth in both the magnitude and frequency of major infrastructure investments worldwide. Despite this boom in infrastructure spending, major projects continue to systematically underperform, as demonstrated in numerous empirical studies. In this paper, the author will discuss the factors underlying this growth in public spending, evaluate the empirical evidence on project cost overruns, and discuss the broader macroeconomic implications of this phenomenon. |
| Date: | 2020–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:jhisae:0161&r=all |
| By: | Wagner, Konstantin |
| Abstract: | I study the effect of increasing competition on financial performance through labour leverage. To capture competition, I exploit variation in product market contestability in the U.S. airline industry. First, I find that increasing competitive pressure leads to increasing labour leverage, proxied by labour share. This explains the decrease in operating profitability through labour rigidities. Second, by exploiting variation in human capital specificity, I show that contestability of product markets induces labour market contestability. Whereas affected firms might experience more stress through higher wages or loss of skilled human capital, more mobile employee groups benefit from competitions through higher labour shares. |
| Keywords: | competition,labour leverage,labour share,threat of entry |
| JEL: | G39 J31 L93 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:iwhdps:212020&r=all |