nep-tre New Economics Papers
on Transport Economics
Issue of 2018‒10‒22
eleven papers chosen by
Erik Teodoor Verhoef
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

  1. High-speed rail and inventory reduction: Firm-level evidence from China By Li, Leona Shao-Zhi; Cui, Chuantao
  2. Estimating interaction delay in bicycle traffic from point measurements By Johansson , Fredrik
  3. The Impact of Uber and Lyft on Taxi Service Quality: Evidence from New York City By Mishal Ahmed; Erik Johnson; Byung-Cheol Kim
  4. The 2008 U.S. Auto Market Collapse By Dupor, Bill; Li, Rong; Mehkari, M. Saif; Tsai, Yi-Chan
  5. The marginal cost of track reinvestments in the Swedish railway network: Using data to compare methods By Odolinski, Kristofer; Yarmukhamedov, Sherzod; Nilsson , Jan-Eric; Haraldsson, Mattias
  6. Interaction Delay and Marginal Cost in Swedish Bicycle Traffic By Johansson , Fredrik; Pyddoke, Roger
  7. Determinants of coopetition through data sharing in MaaS By Bruno Carballa Smichowski
  8. Carbon Taxation for International Maritime Fuels: Assessing the Options By Ian Parry; Dirk Heine; Kelley Kizzier; Tristan Smith
  9. Moving past sustainable mobility towards a critical perspective on urban transport. A right to the city-inspired analysis of fare-free public transport. By Wojciech Keblowski
  10. Bumping, precedents, and de†escalation in South China Sea: Options for the United States and China By Siniša Vuković and Riccardo Alfieri
  11. Accessibility, urban form, and property value: Toward a sustainable urban spatial structure By ChengHe Guan; Richard Peiser

  1. By: Li, Leona Shao-Zhi (Faculty of Business Administration, University of Macau); Cui, Chuantao (School of Economics, Sichuan University)
    Abstract: Using a balanced panel of manufacturing firms from China between 2007 and 2013, we estimate that being connected to a high-speed rail system leads to 9.5% reduction in local firms' input inventory spending. The e ect is stronger for downstream industries and private enterprises. A back-of-envelope calculation suggests that each dollar of HSR investment reduces input inventory stock by 12 cents, which is significantly larger than the e ects found in previous studies based on highway or road investment. Declines in transportation and communication cost, as well as agglomeration e ect are identified as plausible mechanisms. Our findings reveal a micro channel through which improved transport infrastructure brings about economic gains, and contribute to the cost-benefit assessment of high-speed rail investment.
    Keywords: Transport infrastructure; high-speed rail; firm performance; inventory; China
    JEL: D21 H54 O18 R4
    Date: 2018–10–04
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:xjt:rieiwp:2018-08&r=tre
  2. By: Johansson , Fredrik (CTS - Centre for Transport Studies Stockholm (KTH and VTI))
    Abstract: Planning for bicycle traffic is getting increasingly popular in cities, often motivated by that it is beneficial for the environment and the public health, and that it is a space efficient mode of transport. However, research on bicycle traffic has traditionally focused mainly on safety and mode choice, and less on traffic engineering topics such as investigating travel times, delays, and capacities. This study contributes to filling this gap by presenting a general method to estimate a volume -- delay function for bicycle traffic based on point measurements of passage time, speed, and lateral position, and, using estimates of the value of time in bicycle traffic, estimating the marginal cost of the interaction delay. The proposed method is based on an established method to estimate the distribution of desired speeds, and extends this to estimate the delay of the observed cyclists. The method is demonstrated using a data set from a bridge in Stockholm, Sweden, showing that there is significant interaction delay and associated cost even for relatively modest volumes, implying that interaction delay and its cost should be considered when planning for bicycle traffic.
    Keywords: Bicycle traffic; Marginal cost; Delay
    JEL: R40 R41
    Date: 2018–10–10
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ctswps:2018_018&r=tre
  3. By: Mishal Ahmed (School of Economics, Georgia Institute of Technology, 221 Bobby Dodd Way, Atlanta, GA 30313, USA); Erik Johnson (University of Alabama, Culverhouse College of Business, Department of Economics, Finance and Legal Studies, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487, USA); Byung-Cheol Kim (University of Alabama, Culverhouse College of Business, Department of Economics, Finance and Legal Studies, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487, USA)
    Abstract: Using detailed trip-level taxi and for-hire-vehicle data and new incident-level complaints data, we study how the entry of Uber and Lyft has affected the quality of taxi services in New York City. In a panel setting with 263 NYC taxi-zones over the time period from 2014 to 2017, we find that increased competition measured by the number of daily Uber/Lyft trips in a given taxi-zone has led to more complaints regarding a variety of service quality dimensions such as unsafe driving, rude behavior and fare refusal. Our results are robust to accounting for potential simultaneity in the determination of complaints and Uber and Lyft penetration.
    Keywords: ride-sharing applications; taxi; competition; service quality
    JEL: D01 L91 O18 R4
    Date: 2018–09
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:net:wpaper:1816&r=tre
  4. By: Dupor, Bill (Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis); Li, Rong (Renmin University of China); Mehkari, M. Saif (University of Richmond); Tsai, Yi-Chan (National Taiwan University)
    Abstract: New vehicle sales in the U.S. fell nearly 40 percent during the last recession, causing significant job losses and unprecedented government interventions in the auto industry. This paper explores two potential explanations for this decline: falling home values and falling households’ income expectations. First, we establish that declining home values explain only a small portion of the observed reduction in vehicle sales. Using a county-level panel from the episode, we find: (1) A one-dollar fall in home values reduced new vehicle spending by about 0.9 cents; and (2) Falling home values explain approximately 19 percent of the aggregate vehicle spending decline. Next, examining state-level data from 1997-2016, we find: (3) The short-run responses of vehicle consumption to home value changes are larger in the 2005-2011 period relative to other years, but at longer horizons (e.g. 5 years), the responses are similar across the two sub-periods; and (4) The service flow from vehicles, as measured from miles traveled, responds very little to house price shocks. We also detail the sources of the differences between our findings (1) and (2) from existing research. Second, we establish that declining current and expected future income expectations played an important role in the auto market’s collapse. We build a permanent income model augmented to include infrequent, repeated car buying. Our calibrated model matches the pre-recession distribution of auto vintages and exhibits a large vehicle sales decline in response to a moderate decline in expected permanent income. In response to the decline in permanent income, households delay replacing existing vehicles, allowing them smooth the effects of the income shock without significantly adjusting the service flow from their vehicles. Combining our negative results regarding housing wealth with our positive model-based findings, we interpret the auto market collapse as consistent with existing permanent income based approaches to durable goods consumption (e.g., Leahy and Zeira (2005)).
    Date: 2018–09–11
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedlwp:2018-019&r=tre
  5. By: Odolinski, Kristofer (CTS - Centre for Transport Studies Stockholm (KTH and VTI)); Yarmukhamedov, Sherzod (The Swedish National Audit Office); Nilsson , Jan-Eric (CTS - Centre for Transport Studies Stockholm (KTH and VTI)); Haraldsson, Mattias (CTS - Centre for Transport Studies Stockholm (KTH and VTI))
    Abstract: In this study, we analyze the difference between survival and corner solution models in estimating the marginal cost of reinvestments. Both approaches describe the reinvestment process in rather intuitively similar ways but have several methodological distinctions. We use Swedish railway data on track segment and section levels over the period 1999-2016 and focus on reinvestments in track superstructure. Results suggest the marginal costs from survival and corner solution models are SEK 0.0041 and SEK 0.0103, respectively. The conclusion is that the corner solution model is more appropriate, as this method consider the impact traffic has on the risk of reinvestment as well as on the size of the reinvestment cost. The survival approach does not consider the latter, which is problematic when we have systematic variations in costs due to traffic and infrastructure characteristics.
    Keywords: railways; reinvestment; renewal; survival model; corner solution model; two-part model; marginal cost
    JEL: C41 H54 L92 R48
    Date: 2018–10–15
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ctswps:2018_020&r=tre
  6. By: Johansson , Fredrik (CTS - Centre for Transport Studies Stockholm (KTH and VTI)); Pyddoke, Roger (CTS - Centre for Transport Studies Stockholm (KTH and VTI))
    Abstract: We apply the method presented by Johansson (2018) to estimate a volume delay function and marginal cost for bicycle traffic on cycling paths separated from motorized traffic based on point measurements of speed and lateral positions from seven sites in Sweden. The results indicate that a quadratic volume – delay function fits the data well in the observed range of volumes, and that there are significant delays already at volumes far below the capacity due to the heterogeneity of the desired speed over the population. The total marginal cost of delay per unit flow is estimated to €9×10-5 h/km.
    Keywords: Bicycle traffic; Delay; Marginal cost
    JEL: R40 R41
    Date: 2018–10–15
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ctswps:2018_019&r=tre
  7. By: Bruno Carballa Smichowski (CEPN - Centre d'Economie de l'Université Paris Nord - UP13 - Université Paris 13 - USPC - Université Sorbonne Paris Cité - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)
    Abstract: Mobility-as-a-service (MaaS) schemes combining information about and access to multiple means of transportation through a single electronic interface require transportation operators sharing data. In doing so, they coopete: they compete over rides while they collaborate to build a service that can bring them all more rides. Building on microeconomic theory and the experiences of the existing MaaS schemes, we show that, although every operator has incentives to share data if a critical mass of coopetitors do, the coopetitive dynamics of data sharing can lead to multiple mixes of operators. In some mixes, certain operators will not decide not to participate.
    Abstract: Les modèles "mobility-as-a-service" (MaaS) combinant l'information sur et l'accès à plusieurs moyens de transport au sein d'une même interphase numérique requièrent que les opérateurs de transport partagent leurs données. Par ce biais, ils rentrent dans une dynamique coopétitive : ils sont en competition pour gagner des courses et ils collaborent pour produire un service qui peut leur apporter plus de courses à tous. En nous appuyant sur la théorie microéconomique et les experiences existantes de modèles MaaS, on montre que, alors que tout opérateur a des incitations à partager ses données si une masse critique de coopétiteurs le fait aussi, les dynamiques de la coopétition via le partage de données peuvent conduire à plusieurs combinaisons d'opérateurs. Dans certaines combinaisons certains opérateurs vont décider de ne pas participer.
    Keywords: data sharing,mobility-as-a-service,coopetition
    Date: 2018–09–10
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-01872063&r=tre
  8. By: Ian Parry; Dirk Heine; Kelley Kizzier; Tristan Smith
    Abstract: The International Maritime Organization (IMO) announced in April 2018 a target of cutting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the sector by 50 percent below 2008 levels by 2050 and subsequent meetings of the IMO will develop a strategy for making headway on this commitment. This paper seeks to inform dialogue about the possibility of a carbon tax as a key element of GHG mitigation policy for international maritime transport. The paper discusses the case for the tax over alternative mitigation instruments, options for the practical design issues, and then presents estimates of the impacts of carbon taxation and other instruments from an analytical model of the maritime sector.
    Date: 2018–09–11
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imf:imfwpa:18/203&r=tre
  9. By: Wojciech Keblowski
    Abstract: Cette thèse de doctorat est consacrée aux politiques de transport public gratuit, à travers des données empiriques tirées d'une analyse géographique globale de la FFPT et de programmes particuliers de FFPT à Tallinn (Estonie), Aubagne (France) et Chengdu (Chine). Le travail empirique et les réflexions qui y sont menées résultent d’un intérêt pour les « alternatives » urbaines et d’une réflexion sur la façon dont les celles-ci pourraient être identifiées et étudiées dans le domaine de transports urbains. Reconnaissant la domination des perspectives dites « néoclassiques » et « durables » sur le transport urbain, la thèse propose de remettre en cause cette domination en intégrant une dimension explicitement urbaine dans l'analyse des politiques des transports. L'objectif principal de la recherche est donc de renforcer le lien entre les traditions critiques de la théorie urbaine et la géographie des transports en analysant et en démontrant comment les politiques des transports sont également des politiques urbaines. Elle développe ainsi un cadre inspiré du concept de « droit à la ville » d’Henri Lefebvre. Cela permet d'étudier comment les politiques de transports sont étayées par des questions de gouvernance, de coalitions et de régimes urbains ;quels intérêts et acteurs elle représentent ;comment elles sont au centre de l’entre-preneurialisme urbain ainsi que des résistances aux logiques entrepreneuriales ;quel rôle elle jouent dans la compétitivité territoriale ;comment elle peuvent être explorées à travers des questions liées à la participation des travailleurs et des citoyens, en soulignant le rôle de ses travailleurs et utilisateurs. Dans ce sens, le « droit à la ville » est proposé comme une grille d’analyse critique à travers laquelle la réalité des transports urbains peut être vue, analysée et, de manière volontairement normative, modifiée.
    Keywords: fare-free public transport; transport policy; urban studies; urban geography
    Date: 2018–05–07
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ulb:ulbeco:2013/270011&r=tre
  10. By: Siniša Vuković and Riccardo Alfieri
    Abstract: The article departs from a much needed clarification about the 2 overlapping conflicts in South China Sea: sovereignty dispute between China and ASEAN countries, and freedom of navigation dispute between China and the United States. Although both are well documented and covered by an extensive range of academic and policy†relevant analyses, the lines between the 2 have often been blurred, yielding a very limited set of options for proper conflict management. This paper looks at the actual reasons behind Chinese defiance toward the United States, and how can this be reversed. In order to avoid a potential clash in the South China Sea, this paper looks at how similar situations, where the United States was challenging the excessive maritime claims of other nuclear powers, were managed peacefully in light of an inevitable clash. A surprisingly underscrutinized precedent of “bumping incident†form 1988, when U.S. Navy vessels were rammed by Soviet ships and “bumped†back to the international waters is used as a template for a potential solution in the ongoing Sino†American conflict. This paper examines the limits and opportunities of this type of solution and shows how another “bumping incident†does not need to happen before a bilateral solution is explored.
    Date: 2018–10–08
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:een:appswp:201847&r=tre
  11. By: ChengHe Guan; Richard Peiser
    Abstract: The effects of metro system development and urban form on housing prices are highly depend on the spatial temporal conditions of the urban neighborhoods. However, scholars have not yet comprehensively examined these interactions at a neighborhood-scale. This study assesses metro access, urban form, and property value at both district- and neighborhood-levels. The study area is in Pudong, Shanghai where metro system development coincides with rapid urban growth. 279 neighborhoods are systematically and randomly selected for the district-level investigation and 31 neighborhoods are selected from Pudong for neighborhood-level investigation. The analysis of variance shows that metro access is more positively correlated to property price in Pudong. The Pearson correlation, principle component, and ordinary least square regression analyses find that while accessibility attributes have positive influence on housing prices, neighborhood characteristics also exhibit pronounced impact on property price change over time. This study extends our knowledge on how metro system development interacts with land use efficiency, and discusses planning policies corresponding to development stage that produce more sustainable urban form.
    Keywords: Accessibility; metro system; Property Values; Spatial Structure; Urban Form
    JEL: R3
    Date: 2018–01–01
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arz:wpaper:eres2018_330&r=tre

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