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on Transport Economics |
| By: | Eren Aydin (University of Hamburg); Kathleen Kürschner Rauck (University of St.Gallen; Swiss Finance Institute) |
| Abstract: | We study the short-term effects of the 9-Euro-Ticket, a major German public transport subsidization program, on particulate matter (PM). Using hourly PM readings from pollution monitoring stations throughout Germany, provided by the German Federal Environmental Agency, we find declines in PM₁₀ and PM₂.₅ at core traffic stations, displaying differential effects of -0.44 µg/m³ and -0.41 µg/m³ relative to less frequented locations, which corresponds to approximately 2.8 % and 8.5 % of the current limit guidelines that the WHO suggests to mitigate adverse effects on human health. Pollution reductions materialize in regions with above-average public-transportation accessibility, are most pronounced during peak travel times on weekdays and in regions with above-average population density and larger car fleets, suggesting reductions in car usage sign responsible for our findings. This notion is supported by plausibility tests that employ NO₂ and SO₂ as outcomes. These insights into consequences of ticket-fare subsidization for air quality and potential causal pathways are of relevance for policymakers involved in transportation (infrastructure) planning to accommodate such directly incentivizing policy tools in the future. |
| Keywords: | Public transport subsidy, Air pollution, 9-Euro-Ticket, Germany |
| JEL: | R48 R41 Q53 |
| Date: | 2023–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:chf:rpseri:rp23109&r=tre |
| By: | Laurent Franckx |
| Abstract: | We present a total cost of ownership (TCO) analysis per market segment and powertrain of new cars sold in Belgium. We differentiate our results between cars sold to private households and company cars. Even though the median TCO of electric cars is lower than the median TCO of conventional powertrains in several market segments, there is a significant overlap in the TCOs of different powertrains in each market segment. It is therefore important to consider the whole distribution of the TCO. |
| Keywords: | Electric vehicles |
| JEL: | H22 H23 L62 L92 R48 |
| Date: | 2023–06–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpb:wpaper:202305&r=tre |
| By: | Yuan, Tianchen; Ioannou, Petros A. |
| Abstract: | Freeway and arterial transportation networks in most districts are managed separately without any coordination. This lack of coordination increases the severity of traffic congestion when one or both systems reach their capacities. Some field studies have observed reductions in travel time by coordinating freeway ramps with adjacent arterial signals. To advance the investigation, we propose an integrated traffic management strategy that involves variable speed limit, lane change, ramp metering for freeway traffic flow control, and a traffic-responsive signal control scheme for adjacent traffic light intersections.The variable speed limit and lane change control are designed to alleviate congestion at a lane-drop bottleneck in an arbitrary section, and reject potential uncertainties from measurements or model parameters. The ramp metering algorithm takes advantage of the signal plan of neighboring arterial intersection when estimating on-ramp demands. The signal plan for each arterial intersection is determined by a simulation-based cycle length model and estimated demands of all directions, part ofwhich depend on off-ramp flow measurements. The above data sharing mechanism strengthens the connection between thefreeway and arterial networks and enhances the control performance. We demonstrate the effectiveness and quantify the benefits provided by the proposed system in terms of traffic mobility, safety and emission using microscopic traffic simulations. View the NCST Project Webpage |
| Keywords: | Engineering, Variable speed limit, lane change, ramp metering, traffic signal control, coordination |
| Date: | 2023–12–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:itsdav:qt6q67f9z4&r=tre |
| By: | Echeverría, Lucía; Gimenez-Nadal, J. Ignacio; Molina, José Alberto |
| Abstract: | Introduction: Research has shown that commuting is related to the health of workers, and that mode choice may have a range of effects on this relationship. We analyze the relationship between active commuting (walking and cycling) and the health status reported by US workers. Methods: We use the 2014-2016 Eating and Health (EH) Module of the American Time Use Survey (ATUS). We estimate Ordinary Least Squares models on a measure of subjective health that is the self-reported assessment of individual general health status, and on the body mass index. Results: longer commutes by bicycle are significantly related to higher levels of subjective health and to lower body mass index, while commuting by walking is only weakly related to both health measures. We test the robustness of our results to possible measurement error in commuting times, to the exclusion of compensating factors, to the estimation method, and to the inclusion of time devoted to leisure-based physical activities. Conclusions: Our results may help policy makers in evaluating the importance of infrastructures that facilitate the use of bicycles as a means of transport, boosting investment in these infrastructures, especially in larger cities. |
| Keywords: | Commuting; Salud; Trabajadores; Medios de Transporte; Estados Unidos; 2014-2016; |
| Date: | 2023–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nmp:nuland:4010&r=tre |
| By: | Lindsey Currier; Edward L. Glaeser; Gabriel E. Kreindler |
| Abstract: | Which Americans experience the worst infrastructure? What are the costs of living with that infrastructure? We measure road roughness throughout America using vertical acceleration data from Uber rides across millions of American roads. Our measure correlates strongly and positively with other measures of road roughness where they are available, negatively with driver speed, and we find road repair events decrease roughness and increase speeds. We measure drivers’ willingness-to-pay to avoid roughness by measuring how speeds change with salient changes in road roughness, such as those associated with town borders and road repaving events in Chicago. These estimates suggest the roughness of the median local road in the US generates welfare losses to drivers of at least 31 cents per driver-mile. Roads are worse near coasts, and in poorer towns and in poorer neighborhoods, even within towns. We find that a household that drives 3, 000 miles annually on predominantly local roads will suffer $318 per year more in driving pain if they live in a predominantly Black neighborhood than in a predominantly White neighborhood. Road roughness modestly predicts subsequent road resurfacing in New York City, but not in three other cities, which suggests that repaving is only weakly targeted towards damaged roads. Surveys from 120 towns and cities across the US suggest many reasons why resurfacing seems to be weakly targeted. |
| JEL: | L92 O18 R41 R42 |
| Date: | 2023–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:31981&r=tre |
| By: | Paul J. Gertler (University of California-Berkeley); Marco Gonzalez-Navarro (University of California-Berkeley); Tadeja Gracner (RAND); Alexander D. Rothenberg (Syracuse University) |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates the local welfare impacts of highway maintenance investments. We instrument road quality exploiting Indonesia’s two-step budgeting process for allocating funding to local road authorities. Using comprehensive data on road quality from 1990Ã 2007, we find evidence that better roads help manufacturers create new jobs, enabling worker transitions out of informal employment, and increasing labor income. Road quality also changes the cost of living, reducing perishable food prices but also raising housing prices. We estimate the elasticity of household welfare with respect to road quality to be 0.09 and the benefit/cost ratio for road maintenance investments to be 1.8. |
| Date: | 2023–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ays:ispwps:paper2327&r=tre |
| By: | Lassi Ahlvik (University of Helsinki, Department of Economics and Management); Anna Sahari (VATT Institute for Economic Research) |
| Abstract: | The negative health impacts of passive transport can be substantial both from the individual point of view and with respect to public spending on health. We run a field-experiment to study the effectiveness of information in encouraging active transport choices. The treatment is carried out using a smartphone application that automatically tracks users’ daily transport choices. We find that the treatment group receives and internalizes the information, but we do not find a statistically signifcant effect on their travel behavior. |
| Keywords: | Transport Externalities, Active travel, Health Behaviour, Nudging |
| JEL: | I12 R41 D90 |
| Date: | 2023–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fit:wpaper:16&r=tre |
| By: | Kim, Key Hwan (Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade); Kang, Ji Hyun (Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade) |
| Abstract: | The new green industry bill (known as la loi industrie verte) in France can be seen as the French version of the United States’ Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The bill introduces new subsidies for electric vehicles (EVs), necessitating an analysis of the possible impact of these subsidies on Korean industries. The EV subsidies of the IRA are designed to relocate production and assembly of finished vehicles and key components parts back to the United States or the countries with which the US has free trade agreements (FTAs) in place. The EV subsidies introduced by the new bill in France, on the other hand, base subsidization on the carbon footprints of EV production and distribution. The new system of EV subsidies seeks to reduce the carbon footprint in six major areas of EV manufacturing: steel, aluminum, other materials, battery production, assembly, and transportation. This system effectively favors EVs produced in European countries, whose industries make more use of renewable energy and which are closer to France, at the cost of EV makers in China and elsewhere in Asia, as the long distances involved in transportation essentially preclude them from subsidization, and constitute non-tariff barriers (NTBs). Serving environmental and industrial objectives simultaneously, the new bill embodies an important paradigm shift in policymaking. From a trade perspective, this shift in the focus of protectionist policymaking from intermediate goods such as EV batteries to finished goods such as EVs threatens to see NTBs erected at every stage of the value chain in which these finished goods are produced. More barriers to trade under protectionist statutes like the IRA and France’s new green industry are likely to prompt the reintegration of markets and production bases after decades of geographical separation. Korean businesses will therefore be forced to change their business model, from an export-led approach that favored production in Korea to a model in which they increasingly produce goods in target markets. This has the potential to hollow out Korean industries. The manufacturing-driven Korean economy needs to adapt to new global reality radically different from the heyday of globalization, when major importing countries were neutral about foreign manufacturers. |
| Keywords: | electric vehicles; EVs; batteries; secondary batteries; Inflation Reduction Act; IRA; la loi industrie verte; France; subsidies; EV subsidies; non-tariff barriers; NTBs; protectionism; economic nationalism; economic security; reshoring; France; Korea |
| JEL: | H23 H25 K32 L60 L62 Q56 Q58 |
| Date: | 2023–09–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:kietrp:2023_016&r=tre |
| By: | Dean Hyslop (Motu Economic and Public Policy Research); Trinh Le (Motu Economic and Public Policy Research); David Maré (Motu Economic and Public Policy Research); Lynn Riggs (Motu Economic and Public Policy Research); Nic Watson (Motu Economic and Public Policy Research) |
| Abstract: | Climate models indicate that New Zealand’s farms will be increasingly exposed to adverse climate events in the future. In this study, we empirically investigate drought impacts on farm enterprises by linking financial, agricultural and productivity data from Statistics New Zealand’s Longitudinal Business Database (LBD) with historical weather data from NIWA. Our sample consists of an unbalanced panel of over 67, 000 observations of livestock farm enterprises between 2002 and 2012. We run a set of panel regressions with time and farm fixed effects to estimate the effect of changes in drought intensity on gross output, profit per hectare, current loans and intermediate expenditure of dairy and sheep-beef farms. To explore factors of resilience to droughts, we also examine how the estimates change with different farm characteristics. Most (but not all) of the estimated drought effects are significant, consistent across various specifications and of the expected sign. However, we have limited success in conclusively identifying farm characteristics that affect drought outcomes in our data. |
| Keywords: | price elasticities, transport demand vehicle kilometres travelled, fuel usage |
| JEL: | D12 R22 |
| Date: | 2023–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mtu:wpaper:23_10&r=tre |
| By: | Rafael Andersson Lipcsey |
| Abstract: | This thesis aims to assess the importance of the air transport sector for Sweden's economy in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Two complementary research goals are formulated. Firstly, investigating economic linkages of the Swedish air transport sector. Secondly, estimating the effects of the pandemic on Swedish air transport, and the spin-off effects on the economy as a whole. Overview of literature in the field reveals that while a fair amount of research exists on the importance of air transport, unsurprisingly, pandemic effects have yet to be investigated. The methodological framework chosen is input-output analysis, thus, the backbone of data materials used is the Swedish input-output table, complemented by additional datasets. For measuring economic linkages, basic input-output analysis is applied. Meanwhile, to capture the pandemic's impacts, a combination of inoperability analysis and the partial hypothetical extraction model is implemented. It is found that while Swedish air transport plays an important role in turning the cogs of the Swedish economy, when compared to all other sectors, it ranks on the lower end. Furthermore, while the COVID-19 pandemic has a detrimental short-term impact on Swedish air transport, the spin-off effects for the economy as a whole are milder. It is concluded, that out of a value-added perspective, the Swedish government, and by extension policy makers globally need not support failing airlines, and other air transport actors. Nonetheless, some aspects could not be captured through the methods used, such as the possible importance of airlines to national security at times of dodgy global cooperation. Lastly, to accurately capture not only short-term, but also long-term effects of the pandemic, future research using alternative, causality-based frameworks and dynamic input-output models will be highly beneficial. |
| Date: | 2023–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2312.06694&r=tre |
| By: | Asha Weinstein Agrawal (National Transportation Finance Center, Mineta Transportation Institute, San Jose State University); Hilary Nixon (National Transportation Finance Center, Mineta Transportation Institute, San Jose State University) |
| Abstract: | The United States faces a critical policy dilemma with respect to transportation funding: how to fund roads, highways, and public transportation into the future given the dwindling productivity of fuel taxes. This paper explores survey data that sheds light on public opinion about one promising replacement for fuel taxes, so-called Ã’mileage fees.Ó We analyzed 14 years of national survey data from U.S. adults to provide policymakers and researchers with evidence to answer three questions. First, what percent of Americans support the concept of mileage fees and has that support changed over time? Second, does support for mileage fees vary substantially by personal characteristics such as income or annual mileage driven? And third, are some mileage fee design choices more popular with the public than others? |
| Date: | 2023–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ays:ispwps:paper2325&r=tre |