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on Transport Economics |
| By: | Elisabeth Ruth Perlman |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the geographical distribution of patenting in the nineteenth century United States, as it evolves in response to improvements in access to transportation. I revisit the Sokoloff (1988) hypothesis that increasing market access, caused by the spread of transportation infrastructure, led to an acceleration of innovation. I find that twenty years after the arrival of the railroad in a county, the number of patents per capita has doubled. Using cardinal detection lines from the most important ports in 1826 as an instrumental variable suggests that 30-70% of the increase in patenting between 1850 and 1860 was caused by the spread of the railroad in this period, and 15-30% of the increase between 1850 and 1870. These results are driven by the area of a county that is close enough make a round trip to transportation with in a day, and not by area further away. A 1% increase in the area of the county that is within 1.5 miles of some form of transport corresponds to a to a 1.5% increase in patenting. These results are robust to controls for urbanization. Much of the effect comes from patenting in counties that had not previously patented, suggesting that new access to existing markets spurs development and leads to integration into broader markets for innovation. |
| Date: | 2015–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:auu:hpaper:036&r=all |
| By: | Collier,Paul; Kirchberger,Martina; Söderbom,Måns |
| Abstract: | The connections between transport infrastructure and economic development have been extensively analyzed in previous research, but little is known about the cost of infrastructure investments in poor countries. This paper examines drivers of unit costs of construction and maintenance of transport infrastructure in low and middle income countries and documents that: (i) there is a large dispersion in unit costs for comparable road work activities; (ii) after accounting for environmental drivers of costs, residual unit costs are significantly higher in conflict countries; (iii) there is evidence that costs are higher in countries with higher levels of corruption; (iv) these effects are robust to controlling for a country?s public investment capacity and business environment. Our findings have implications for governments aiming to increase connectivity in poor countries. |
| Keywords: | Transport Economics Policy&Planning,E-Business,Economic Theory&Research,Public Sector Corruption&Anticorruption Measures,Governance Indicators |
| Date: | 2015–09–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:7408&r=all |
| By: | Remi Jedwab; Alexander Moradi |
| Abstract: | We exploit the construction and eventual demise of the colonial railroads in Africa to study the impact of transportation investments in poor countries. Using Ghana and Sub-Saharan Africa as a whole, we assembled new data on railroads and cities spanning over one century to show that: (i) Railroads had large effects on the spatial distribution and aggregate level of economic activity during the colonial period, as they constituted a transportation revolution in a context where no modern transportation technology previously existed. (ii) These effects have persisted to date, although railroads collapsed and road networks expanded considerably in the post-independence period. The analysis contributes to our understanding of the heterogeneous impact of transportation investments. It shows that initial investments may have a large effect in poor countries with basic infrastructure. As the countries develop, increasing returns may then solidify their spatial distribution, and subsequent investments may have a smaller effect on local economic development. |
| Keywords: | Transportation, Railroads, Development, Cities, Path Dependence, Roads |
| JEL: | O1 O3 O18 R4 R1 N97 |
| Date: | 2015–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:auu:hpaper:031&r=all |
| By: | Andrea Bonilla (GATE Lyon Saint-Étienne - Groupe d'analyse et de théorie économique - ENS Lyon - École normale supérieure - Lyon - UL2 - Université Lumière - Lyon 2 - UCBL - Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 - Université Jean Monnet - Saint-Etienne - PRES Université de Lyon - CNRS) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies how the public provision of transportation infrastructure impact output convergence and trade integration in a two-country dynamic general equilibrium model in which the transportation cost between countries is endogenously determined by the stock of public infrastructure in both countries. Because of its particular conception, the so-called « Initiative for the Integration of Regional Infrastructure in South America (IIRSA) » serves as the case study. Data from Argentina and Brazil is thus used to solve the model. Two main results emerge. First, increasing public investment in infrastructure provides an impetus to commercial integration but does not necessarily generate output convergence. Second, the model shows that the only way for the two countries to achieve output convergence (in a win-win economic growth scenario) is to coordinate their increments on public infrastructure, as proposed by IIRSA. |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-01189319&r=all |
| By: | Philippe Barla; Markus Herrmann; Carlos Ordas-Criado; Luis F. Miranda-Moreno |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we examine the heterogeneity in gasoline demand price and income elasticities across 40 cities in the province of Quebec Canada using quarterly data over the 2004 to 2009 period. We reject the hypothesis of identical elasticities across markets. However, the range of values for the price elasticity, between -0.65 and -0.14, is relatively narrow and confirms that the demand for gasoline is price inelastic. We find evidence that the average price and income elasticity is somewhat larger in markets with public transportation. Furthermore, these markets experience a strong declining trend in gasoline use per capita. |
| Keywords: | Gasoline demand, price and income elasticities, random coefficient model, peak car hypothesis |
| JEL: | C33 D12 Q41 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lvl:creacr:2015-4&r=all |
| By: | Dan Bogart; Latika Chaudhary; Alfonso Herranz-Loncan |
| Abstract: | It is widely recognized that railways were one of the most important drivers of economic growth in the 19th and 20th century, but it is less recognized that railways had a different impact across countries. In this paper, we first estimate the growth impact of Indian railways, one of the largest networks in the world circa 1900. Then, we show railways made a smaller contribution to income per-capita growth in India compared to the most dynamic Latin American economies between 1860 and 1912. The smaller contribution in India is related to four factors: (1) the smaller size of railway freight revenues in the Indian economy, (2) the higher elasticity of demand for freight services, (3) lower wages, and (4) higher fares. Our results suggest large disruptive technologies such as railways and other communication technologies can generate huge resources savings, but may not have large growth impacts. |
| Keywords: | Railways, Social Savings, ICT, India, Growth Accounting |
| JEL: | N7 O47 P52 R4 |
| Date: | 2015–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:auu:hpaper:033&r=all |
| By: | Ignacio Ferrero (University of Navarra) |
| Abstract: | In the last decades globalization and the knowledge economy have caused socioeconomic and cultural changes, which have given rise to a new way of understanding politics. This way claims for different solutions to face the traditional conflict between State-individual, or planned economy-market economy. The route to go ahead is not a mid-road between socialism or capitalism, but to explore a new way where social agents could be complemented, and the civil society may have a prevailing role. The exam of the principal thesis of genuine liberalism, and its corollaries in economic policy recommendations, show how the liberal doctrine does not drive to that supposed incompatibilities. |
| Date: | 2014–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:una:unccee:wp0414&r=all |
| By: | Keith Klovers (Department of Economics, The College of William and Mary); Alfredo Marvão Pereira (Department of Economics, The College of William and Mary) |
| Abstract: | Using a hedonic price model with demographic, spatial, and house characteristic data, this study finds significant property value premiums associated with access to rail mass transit in the Portland, Oregon. Incremental changes to a "benchmark" model - similar to many used in the literature - lead to the adoption of a more appropriate "target" model that incorporates several innovations. This paper finds that assessment data is more appropriate and consistent than sale price data; that the use of a continuous measurement of the distance to transit is more powerful than a binary measure; and that the consideration of "community amenities" - such as schools or parks -in the model specification improves the resulting estimates. The target model finds significantly higher transit access premiums than prior models, suggesting that municipalities may see greater property tax benefits from transit construction than previously estimated. |
| Keywords: | Residential Property Values, Rail Mass Transit, Hedonic Price Model, Portland |
| JEL: | H71 L92 R12 R32 R51 |
| Date: | 2015–08–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cwm:wpaper:166&r=all |