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on Transport Economics |
| By: | Blyde, Juan; Molina, Danielken |
| Abstract: | Casual evidence suggests that multinational companies increasingly look for places with adequate transport and logistics infrastructure to locate affiliates that participate in cross-border production sharing. Yet, there are no systematic empirical analyses examining how logistics infrastructure interacts with the location decisions made by multinationals. Most studies on the determinants of FDI address the issue of transportation-logistics by examining the impact of distance on the relevant outcome, but distance does not capture by itself the quality of the logistics systems in place. An additional challenge is that investments in logistics infrastructure and FDI flows could be potentially endogenous. We overcome these shortcomings in the literature by embedding indicators of infrastructure into an empirical framework that examines whether countries with adequate logistics systems attract more vertical FDI in industries that are more dependent on logistics services. We find that logistics infrastructure positively impacts vertical FDI in addition to the impact typically found on distance. A change from the first quartile to the third quartile of the distribution of logistics infrastructure is associated with an average increase in the number of vertically-integrated subsidiaries equivalent to 15 percent |
| Keywords: | international production networks, vertical FDI, logistics infrastructure |
| JEL: | F10 F23 L23 |
| Date: | 2013–03–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:45749&r=tre |
| By: | Bent Flyvbjerg |
| Abstract: | Project promoters, forecasters, and managers sometimes object to two things in measuring inaccuracy in travel demand forecasting: (1) using the forecast made at the time of making the decision to build as the basis for measuring inaccuracy and (2) using traffic during the first year of operations as the basis for measurement. This paper presents the case against both objections. First, if one is interested in learning whether decisions about building transport infrastructure are based on reliable information, then it is exactly the traffic forecasted at the time of making the decision to build that is of interest. Second, although ideally studies should take into account so-called demand "ramp up" over a period of years, the empirical evidence and practical considerations do not support this ideal requirement, at least not for large-N studies. Finally, the paper argues that large samples of inaccuracy in travel demand forecasts are likely to be conservatively biased, i.e., accuracy in travel demand forecasts estimated from such samples would likely be higher than accuracy in travel demand forecasts in the project population. This bias must be taken into account when interpreting the results from statistical analyses of inaccuracy in travel demand forecasting. |
| Date: | 2013–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:1303.7401&r=tre |
| By: | Drennan, Matthew; Brecher, Charles |
| Keywords: | Engineering, Natural Resources and Conservation, Social Sciences, public investments, public transportation, economic efficiency |
| Date: | 2012–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:uctcwp:qt3mk1v8gz&r=tre |
| By: | Gokan, Toshitaka |
| Abstract: | It is well know that transport charges are not symmetric: fronthaul and backhaul costs on a route may differ, because they are affected by the distribution of economic acitivities. This paper develops a two-regional general equilibrium model in which transport costs are determined endogenously as a result of a search and matching process. It is shown that economies or diseconomies of transport density emerge, depending on the search costs of transport firms and the relative importance of the possibility of backhaul transportation. It is found that the symmetry of the distribution of economic activity may break owing to economies of transport density when the additional search costs are small enough. |
| Keywords: | Transportation, Costs, International trade, Manufacturing industries, Transport sector, New economic geography, Imperfect competition, Imperfect information |
| JEL: | F12 R12 R49 |
| Date: | 2013–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jet:dpaper:dpaper398&r=tre |
| By: | Bent Flyvbjerg; Massimo Garbuio; Dan Lovallo |
| Abstract: | The Economist recently reported that infrastructure spending is the largest it is ever been as a share of world GDP. With $22 trillion in projected investments over the next ten years in emerging economies alone, the magazine calls it the "biggest investment boom in history." The efficiency of infrastructure planning and execution is therefore particularly important at present. Unfortunately, the private sector, the public sector and private/public sector partnerships have a dismal record of delivering on large infrastructure cost and performance promises. This paper explains why and how to solve the problem. |
| Date: | 2013–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:1303.7403&r=tre |
| By: | Dyble, Louise Nelson |
| Keywords: | Engineering, Natural Resources and Conservation, Social Sciences, golden gate, authority, transportation planning |
| Date: | 2012–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:uctcwp:qt5d87n0vb&r=tre |
| By: | Kano, Kazuko; Kano, Takashi; Takechi, Kazutaka |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the effect of distance on price differentials across regions. To identify the distance effect, we need to incorporate producer heterogeneity and pricing-to-market behavior. Because geographic barriers alter the threshold levels of productivity to set a positive price across markets, the effect of distance on price differentials can be underestimated if heterogeneity and pricing to market are not accounted for. By incorporating these factors, empirical analysis using micro-level data reveals that the distance effect is significantly large, suggesting that the price of geographic barriers is still high for regional transportation. |
| Keywords: | Law of one price, Transportation costs, Geographic barriers, Producer heterogeneity, Pricing to market |
| JEL: | F11 F14 F41 |
| Date: | 2013–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hit:econdp:2013-03&r=tre |
| By: | Guerra, Erick; Cervero, Robert |
| Keywords: | Engineering, Natural Resources and Conservation, Social Sciences, transit, transit investments, transit stations |
| Date: | 2012–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:uctcwp:qt83f6q2nv&r=tre |
| By: | Shoup, Donald |
| Keywords: | Engineering, Natural Resources and Conservation, Social Sciences, solar parking, solar panels, parking lots |
| Date: | 2012–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:uctcwp:qt46c64527&r=tre |
| By: | Bent Flyvbjerg |
| Abstract: | This paper argues, first, that a major problem in the planning of large infrastructure projects is the high level of misinformation about costs and benefits that decision makers face in deciding whether to build, and the high risks such misinformation generates. Second, it explores the causes of misinformation and risk, mainly in the guise of optimism bias and strategic misrepresentation. Finally, the paper presents a number of measures aimed at improving planning and decision making for large infrastructure projects, including changed incentive structures and better planning methods. Thus the paper is organized as a simple triptych consisting in problems, causes, and cures. |
| Date: | 2013–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:1303.7400&r=tre |
| By: | Antoine Dechezleprêtre; Richard Perkins; Eric Neumayer |
| Abstract: | This article examines the impact of environmental regulation within countries as well as regulatory distance between countries on international technology transfer. We employ a recently-assembled dataset of automobile emission standards and corresponding data on non-resident patent filing of automotive environmentally sound technologies (ESTs) in 49 countries between 1992 and 2007. Our analysis shows that an important factor shaping transfers is relative regulatory distance in that countries are more likely to receive newly-innovated technologies from source countries whose regulatory standards are “closer” to their own. Absolute stringency matters as well, consistent with conventional wisdom, although raising domestic environmental standards as such only leads to higher inflows of ESTs in developing countries. Novel to the literature, we show that regulatory standards in the third markets of a country's trading partners also influence transfers: countries receive more ESTs from a specific source country where they export more to markets whose regulatory standards are similar to those of the source country of the transferred technologies. As concerns both domestic regulation and regulation in a country’s major export markets, it is therefore regulatory distance that matters most rather than absolute regulatory levels. |
| Date: | 2012–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lsg:lsgwps:wp73&r=tre |
| By: | Hideki Murakami (Graduate School of Business Administration, Kobe University) |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this research is to investigate the dynamic changes in the competition between air carriers by applying a revised conduct parameter method. We examined the cases of Southwest Airlines and America West Airlines due to the availability of data. Our interest is in what fashion a low-cost carrier (LCC) entered the market, how the rival reacted, and whether the fashions of competition between two types of air carrier remained stable as time passed. Our empirical results obtained by econometric methods using 894 sample observations show that the fashions of competition fell between Cournot competition and gP=MC (price equals marginal cost)h competition, and sometimes the fashions were stable and sometimes not. Beyond four or five years after new entry by an LCC, these two fashions of competition reached a state of equilibrium. An implication for industrial policy is that an LCCfs entry improves consumer surplus but it seems not to maximize social welfare. |
| Keywords: | LCC, new entry, conduct parameter, dynamic analysis |
| Date: | 2012–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kbb:dpaper:2012-25&r=tre |
| By: | Bent Flyvbjerg |
| Abstract: | Risk, including economic risk, is increasingly a concern for public policy and management. The possibility of dealing effectively with risk is hampered, however, by lack of a sound empirical basis for risk assessment and management. The paper demonstrates the general point for cost and demand risks in urban rail projects. The paper presents empirical evidence that allow valid economic risk assessment and management of urban rail projects, including benchmarking of individual or groups of projects. Benchmarking of the Copenhagen Metro is presented as a case in point. The approach developed is proposed as a model for other types of policies and projects in order to improve economic and financial risk assessment and management in policy and planning. |
| Date: | 2013–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:1303.7402&r=tre |