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on Transport Economics |
| By: | Pyddoke, Roger (Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute (VTI)); Lind, Joar (Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute (VTI)) |
| Abstract: | Cities around the world contemplate how the transports of the city can be greened by shifting passenger transport demand from private car to more sustainable modes. Car users in cities frequently do not fully pay for the externalities (for example congestion, delays, accidents, noise, and air pollution) they cause other car users and citizens. This paper models and compares the effects of welfare optimized parking charges, congestion taxes, and kilometre taxes in Malmö and Uppsala in Sweden, internalization of externalities, welfare and shift of demand from car use to other modes. The results indicate that there is a significant potential for improvement in social welfare and for shifting mode from car to other modes by pricing car use externalities by all three instruments. The increased costs per trip imposed on car users by the instrument vary by a factor two from about EUR 1 to about EUR 2. |
| Keywords: | parking charge; congestion tax; kilometre tax; Sweden; welfare; optimization; mode shift |
| JEL: | R41 R48 |
| Date: | 2024–02–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:vtiwps:2024_002&r=tre |
| By: | Börjesson, Maria (Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute (VTI); Linköping University, Sweden); Proost, Stef (KU Leuven, Belgium) |
| Abstract: | This paper compares the cost of diesel trucks, battery electric trucks, and trucks that rely on overhead lines in a decision context where the developments of battery costs and overhead line investment and maintenance costs are uncertain. The user costs contain the truck capital cost and the energy costs, the possible vehicle-to-grid benefits, driver costs, and other distance costs. User costs are compared for optimized battery sizes for trucks with different distance profiles. The possible user cost developments serve as input to an analysis of investment decisions in electric motorways (e-roads). The economics of e-roads are analyzed for two representations of the EU TEN-T network. In the first analysis, average EU truck density and truck trip characteristics are used. In the second representation, we consider domestic and international truck transport between two neighbouring countries with strongly diverging traffic density and the share of international truck trips on their TEN-T network. This allows for the analysis of the non-cooperative and cooperative solutions of the two countries. The installation of e-roads appears to be a robust investment decision for the motorways of large countries that have dense truck traffic but not for less dense counties. Cooperation between large and small countries may increase total benefits depending on future battery costs and overhead line investment and maintenance costs. |
| Keywords: | Electric trucks; battery development; catenary trucks; electric roads; coordination of investments; CBA |
| JEL: | R41 R42 R48 |
| Date: | 2024–02–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:vtiwps:2024_003&r=tre |
| By: | Milena Almagro; Felipe Barbieri; Juan Camilo Castillo; Nathaniel G. Hickok; Tobias Salz |
| Abstract: | We characterize optimal urban transportation policies in the presence of congestion and environmental externalities and evaluate their welfare and distributional effects. We present a framework of a municipal government that implements different transportation equilibria through its choice of public transit policies—prices and frequencies—as well as road pricing. The government faces a budget constraint that introduces monopoly-like distortions. We apply this framework to Chicago, for which we construct a new dataset that comprehensively captures transportation choices. We find that road pricing alone leads to large welfare gains by reducing externalities, but at the expense of consumers (travelers), whose surplus falls even if road pricing revenues are fully rebated. The largest losses are borne by middle income consumers, who are most reliant on cars. We find that the optimal price of public transit is close to zero and goes along with a reduction in the frequency of buses and an increase in the frequency of trains. Combining these transit policies with road pricing eliminates budget constraints. This allows the government to implement higher transit frequencies and even lower prices, in which case consumer surplus increases after rebates. |
| JEL: | L0 L97 R0 R4 |
| Date: | 2024–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:32185&r=tre |
| By: | S. J. Newman; K. Schulte; M. M. Morellini; C. Rahal; D. Leasure |
| Abstract: | Policies to reduce transport emissions often overlook the international flow of used vehicles. We quantify the rate at which used vehicles generated CO2 and pollution for all used vehicles exported from Great Britain; a globally leading used vehicle exporter across 2005-2021. Destined for low-middle-income countries, exported vehicles fail roadworthiness standards and, even under extremely optimistic functioning as new assumptions, generate at least 13-53 percent more emissions than scrapped or on-road vehicles. |
| Date: | 2024–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2402.13807&r=tre |
| By: | Hutchings, Siobhan (Monash University) |
| Abstract: | We use an online experiment and survey to establish that consumers are misinformed about electric vehicles and that correcting misinformation has little impact on preferences for electric vehicles but some impact on electric vehicle policy preferences. Specifically, correcting misperceptions does not change consumers’ willingness to support pro-electric vehicle government initiatives but does cause specific EV policies to be preferred more or less. We estimate the effect of correcting misinformation by employing two information treatments : an informative narrative and a fact sheet. These treatments successfully make electric vehicle perceptions more accurate, but neither narratives nor fact sheets are more successful at correcting misperceptions. We determine preferences using survey questions, relying on indirect and incentivised questions to rule out the influence of social desirability bias on participants’ responses. |
| Keywords: | Consumer preferences ; Behavioral economics ; Electric vehicles ; Survey experiments ; Information treatments JEL classifications: C83 ; C90 ; D12 ; D83 ; D91 ; L62 ; Q48 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wrk:wrkesp:74&r=tre |
| By: | Yoshifumi Konishi (Department of Economics, Keio University); Akari Ono (Graduate School of Economics, Keio University) |
| Abstract: | Economists are increasingly concerned with the heterogeneous impacts of transportation infrastructure investments on economic outcomes, particularly the phenomenon known as the gStraw Effect h: Core cities that were already in economic prosperity may gain more, and peripheral cities may lose, from large transportation projects. We empirically investigate whether such an effect manifests in the case of the Great Seto Bridges in Japan, a 70-billion-dollar project implemented as part of the gBuilding-a-new-Japan h initiative in the 1980s-1990s. We employ the recently developed recentered instrumental variable approach in the difference-in-differences design, exploiting the sharp decline in transport costs and its differential impacts on market access levels across cities of different economic prosperity as exogenous sources of variation. We find that, contrary to the straw effect, large peripheral cities gain more than core cities, rather than lose, from the megaproject. We also demonstrate that the distribution of winners and losers from the megaproject depends on where the associated cost reductions occur in the existing network structures. |
| Keywords: | Market Access, Transportation Investment, Core-Periphery Model, Economic Geography, Quantitative Spatial Model |
| JEL: | O18 R4 R11 R12 |
| Date: | 2024–02–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:keo:dpaper:2024-003&r=tre |
| By: | William E. Bendinelli; Alessandro V. M. Oliveira |
| Abstract: | Flight delays are a reality in the modern air industry worldwide. However, studies in the literature have investigated the competitive determinants of delays arising from factors originating at the airport and along the route separately. This work aims to present a national study that used a unifying approach from the literature, considering the local and global effects of competition on delays. The analysis took into account a phenomenon known as the "internalization of externalities" of airport congestion. Furthermore, it discusses the relationship between quality and competition on the route and the impacts of the entry of a low-cost carrier (LCC) on the delays of incumbent airlines in the Brazilian air market. The literature suggests that there is evidence of congestion internalization at Brazilian airports, in parallel with competition for quality at the route level. Additionally, the potential competition caused by the presence of the LCC leads to a global effect that suggests the existence of impacts other than prices on routes where it has not entered. |
| Date: | 2024–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2402.11373&r=tre |
| By: | Carolina B. Resende; Alessandro V. M. Oliveira |
| Abstract: | In recent years, the topic of global warming and greenhouse gas emissions has been increasingly in the media. This theme has raised various flags, showing concern for the future and seeking alternatives for a more sustainable life over the years. When studying greenhouse gas emissions, one of the main emitters of such gases is the burning of fuels, in which transport vehicles that depend on gas and oil are included. In this respect, air transport through aircraft is one of the sources emitting such gases. Aiming to reduce gas emissions, one of the ways to do this is by reducing fuel consumption; for this, aircraft would have to be more efficient, or the offer and demand for flights would be reduced. However, what if aircraft fuel consumption were taxed? What would be the effects of this on air transport? Could this be one of the alternatives to reduce emissions? To understand this relationship between taxation and a possible reduction in fuel consumption, a study was developed by the Aeronautics Institute of Technology (ITA), using an econometric model to understand how demand would be affected by changes in airfares. In addition, a simulation of possible environmental taxes on the values of air tickets was carried out to analyze the demand response and to get an idea if this taxation would really solve the emission problems. |
| Date: | 2024–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2402.12404&r=tre |
| By: | Seltzer, Andrew J.; Wadsworth, Jonathan |
| Abstract: | The growth of public transport networks in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries had profound effects on commuting in the industrialized world, yet the consequences for labor markets during this important period of historical development remains largely unstudied. This paper draws on a unique dataset combining individual commuting and wage information for working-class residents of London, circa 1930, to analyze, for the first time, the nature of and returns to commuting shortly after when networks were first built. A sizeable majority of working-class Londoners worked within a short walk of their residence in 1890. By 1930, over 70 percent commuted at least one kilometer. Commuting allowed workers to search for jobs over a wider geographic area and across a larger number of potential employers. This, in turn, potentially increased workers’ bargaining power and improved employer-employee matching. We show that wage returns to commuting were on the order of 1.5–3.5 percent per kilometer travelled. Access to public transport increased both the probability of commuting and distance commuted but had little or no direct effect on the probability of being employed or on earnings. We argue that these results are consistent with a search and matching framework; commuting led to workers finding jobs more suited to their skills and to better matches with employers. We also provide descriptive evidence from contemporary sources to describe the impact of commuting on improving quality of life by reducing urban crowding. |
| Keywords: | commuting; labor markets; earnings; London |
| JEL: | N94 R40 N34 J31 N73 |
| Date: | 2023–09–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:120895&r=tre |
| By: | Alessandro V. M. Oliveira |
| Abstract: | This study investigates price seasonality in the Brazilian air transport industry, emphasizing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on domestic airline pricing strategies. Given potential shifts in demand patterns following the global health crisis, this study explores possible long-term structural changes in the seasonality of Brazilian airfare. We analyze an open dataset of domestic city pairs from 2013 to 2023, employing an econometric model developed using Stata software. Our findings indicate alterations in seasonal patterns and long-term trends in the post-pandemic era. These changes underscore potential shifts in the composition of leisure and business travelers, along with the cost pressures faced by airlines. |
| Date: | 2024–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2402.13789&r=tre |
| By: | Charlotte Liotta (CIRED - Centre International de Recherche sur l'Environnement et le Développement - Cirad - Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - AgroParisTech - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - Université Paris-Saclay - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, TU - Technical University of Berlin / Technische Universität Berlin, MCC - Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change - PIK - Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research); Vincent Viguié (CIRED - Centre International de Recherche sur l'Environnement et le Développement - Cirad - Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - AgroParisTech - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - Université Paris-Saclay - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Felix Creutzig (MCC - Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change - PIK - Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, TU - Technical University of Berlin / Technische Universität Berlin) |
| Abstract: | City-level policies are increasingly recognized as key components of strategies to reduce transport greenhouse gas emissions. However, at a global scale, their total efficiencies, costs, and practical feasibility remain unclear. Here, we use a spatially-explicit monocentric urban economic model, systematically calibrated on 120 cities worldwide, to analyze the impact of four representative policies aiming at mitigating transportation GHG emissions, also accounting for their economic welfare impacts and health co-benefits. Applying these policies in all cities, we find that total transportation GHG emissions can be reduced by 31% in 15 years, compared with the baseline scenario. However, the consequences of the same policies vary widely between cities, with specific effects depending on the policy considered, income level, population growth rate, spatial organization, and existing public transport supply. Impacts on transport emissions span from high to almost zero, and consequences in terms of welfare can either be positive or negative. Applying welfareincreasing policy portfolios captures most of the emission reductions: overall, they reduce emissions by 22% in 15 years. Our results highlight that there is no one-size-fits-all policy. However, with context-specific strategies, large emission reductions can globally be achieved while improving welfare. |
| Date: | 2023–05–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04445981&r=tre |
| By: | Wozny, Florian (German Aerospace Center DLR) |
| Abstract: | The tax incidence is central to the effectiveness of taxation. In this paper, I examine the pass-through rate of an air passenger tax to airfares. Additionally, I analyse its impact on passenger numbers, air transport capacity, and the interaction with supply and demand elasticity. For identification, I exploit the implementation of an air passenger tax on worldwide departures from Sweden and compare them with similar departures from Denmark and Finland with no such air passenger tax implementation. For the analysis, I use a unique data set of the universe of worldwide airline bookings. On average, airlines choose an immediate and nearly full pass-through of taxes. Consistent with theoretical priors for oligopolistic markets, tax incidence increases with competition but decreases with lower demand elasticity. Furthermore, the air passenger tax reduces passenger numbers and air transport capacity significantly. |
| Keywords: | tax incidence, competition, air passenger tax, environmental policy |
| JEL: | H22 L13 Q52 |
| Date: | 2024–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16783&r=tre |
| By: | Bruno F. Oliveira; Alessandro V. M. Oliveira |
| Abstract: | This work focuses on trying to understand how the construction of an airline's network is made. For this purpose, the case of Azul was studied, investigating which and how factors affect the decision of this airline to enter domestic routes, in addition to analyzing how the merger of Azul with the regional airline Trip affected the company's network planning. For this, an academic study was conducted using an econometric model to understand the airline's entry model. The results show that Azul's business model is based on connecting new destinations, not yet served by its competitors, to one of its hubs, and consistently avoiding routes or airports dominated by other airlines. Regarding the effects of the merger, the results suggest that Azul moved away from its original entry model, based on JetBlue, to a model more oriented towards regional aviation, entering shorter routes and regional airports. |
| Date: | 2024–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2402.13278&r=tre |
| By: | Alessandro V. M. Oliveira |
| Abstract: | This book, written in Portuguese, presents a comprehensive analysis of the air transport industry in Brazil, highlighting its vital importance to the country's economy. It explores the sector's complexity, from economic characteristics to interaction with the national aeronautical industry, through the specialization of the workforce and market demand analysis. The book delves into the economic regulation of air transport, tracing the evolution from periods of strict regulation to phases of liberalization and deregulation, and examines market dynamics, focusing on concentration and competitiveness. It also analyzes demand and supply through case studies, investigating everything from tourists traveling within Brazil to the coverage of the national territory and the prices of air tickets. Finally, the book proposes principles for the regulation and public policies of the air sector, emphasizing the priority of the passenger, the business environment, access to air transport, and economic efficiency, culminating in the advocacy for a free market, but with protection for competition and the consumer. |
| Date: | 2024–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2402.07190&r=tre |
| By: | Jo\~ao B. T. Szenczuk; Alessandro V. M. Oliveira |
| Abstract: | This work presents an analysis of recent literature examining factors that influence flight times in Brazil, with special attention to the impact of new technology implementations, specifically Performance-Based Navigation (PBN). PBN procedures began to be implemented in Brazilian airspace in 2009 and represent a new concept of air navigation, using satellites to create 3D flight routes that are shorter and more precise, potentially reducing the distances flown and consequently flight times and delays. Flight times depend on various factors, such as the size and complexity of the origin and destination airports, weather conditions, aircraft models, and how full the flights are. Therefore, to assess the impact of the new procedures, the variation in this set of factors must be taken into account. The results found in the literature suggest that Performance-Based Navigation had a positive impact, reducing flight times by about 1-2%, representing a saving of tens of thousands of flight hours from the beginning of implementations in 2009 until the end of 2018. |
| Date: | 2024–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2402.11374&r=tre |
| By: | Murillo Massaretto; Alessandro V. M. Oliveira |
| Abstract: | The exploration of existing commercial opportunities has been increasing the share of commercial (non-aeronautical) revenues in the total revenues of airports worldwide. These revenues, also called commercial, non-aeronautical, or non-tariff revenues, come from rentals, duty-free shops, food and beverage sales, parking, advertising, etc. In other words, everything that is not the main business of the airport. Consequently, the dependence on commercial revenues has also become increasingly important, and airport managers are interested in understanding how to improve their financial results with this new revenue source, as it not only improves financial outcomes but also optimizes passengers' time and money consumption options at airports. Therefore, this chapter seeks to discuss the main determinants of commercial revenues at national airports, analyzing the possible impacts of the behavior of passengers from low-cost carriers (LCC) on these revenues, combined with other determining factors. |
| Date: | 2024–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2402.12403&r=tre |
| By: | Hancke, Robert; Mathei, Laurenz |
| Abstract: | This article examines the responses and strategies developed by business, unions, and governments to the electric turn in the industry in Germany and France, Europe’s main car-producing countries. We concentrate on the role of history and institutions in the determination of adjustment paths. Since institutions reflect specific histories, the electric transition in the industry can take on different forms in different countries. In both countries, governments play a supportive role, leading in France, and following in Germany. The strong works councils in German car companies are reluctant to engage in a rapid transition that would devalue the assets of the workforce and endanger past investments in internal combustion-related technology. Trade unions, in contrast, who organise the workforce in the wider industry, are in favour of a faster transition as it will secure future employment. The French EV industry, in contrast, is now a booming sector, after several decades of deep restructuring with massive employment losses. Its key short-term problem is to train enough workers to staff the rapidly expanding car battery industry. Lacking a deeply rooted training system like the German one, the industry has a relatively free hand in selecting and preparing its future workforce. |
| Keywords: | T&F deal |
| JEL: | J1 |
| Date: | 2024–02–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:122000&r=tre |
| By: | Christian Krekel; George MacKerron |
| Abstract: | Wages indicate how much people want for their time at work, but how can we find out what value they place on time spent doing other things? Christian Krekel and George MacKerron analyse over two million responses to a smartphone app that randomly asks people what they're doing at a particular moment and how they're feeling about it. These responses enable the monetary value of time for activities ranging from washing up to watching a concert to be estimated. |
| Keywords: | value of time, time savings, experience-sampling, experiential valuation, cost-benefit analysis, waiting, commuting, wellbeing |
| Date: | 2024–02–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepcnp:675&r=tre |
| By: | Rodolfo R. Narcizo; Alessandro V. M. Oliveira |
| Abstract: | This study addresses the growing standardization of airline fleets, highlighting that frequent passengers are more likely to fly on the same aircraft model more often. The objective is to analyze the fleet management of airlines and the impact of a reduced variety of models on company operations. The benefits of standardization, such as operational efficiency, and the risks, such as vulnerability to specific model failures, are discussed. The work reviews international scientific literature on the subject, identifying consensus and disagreements that suggest areas for future research. It also includes a study on the Brazilian market, examining how standardization affects operational costs and profitability in terms of model, family, and aircraft manufacturer. Furthermore, the relationship between fleet standardization and the business model of the companies is investigated, concluding that the advantages of standardization are not exclusive to low-cost companies but can also be leveraged by other airlines. |
| Date: | 2024–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2402.12402&r=tre |
| By: | Jason Dunn; Fernando Leibovici |
| Abstract: | Recent attacks on cargo vessels in the Red Sea have disrupted a major shipping lane. This analysis looks at the impact on shipping costs and global trade flows. |
| Keywords: | shipping disruptions; cargo vessels; shipping costs; global trade |
| Date: | 2024–02–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:l00001:97816&r=tre |