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on Transport Economics |
| By: | Thomas Hagedorn (Institute of Transport Economics, Muenster); Jan Wessel (Institute of Transport Economics, Muenster); Marlena Meier (Institute of Transport Economics, Muenster) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes (i) the influence of electric bicycle (“e-bike†) ownership on transport mode choice and (ii) how a change in e-bike ownership affects carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in Germany. Using longitudinal data from household surveys from 2016 to 2022, we first conduct a trip-level analysis with a mixed multinomial logit model (MMNL model) to estimate mode choice probabilities. The results show that the change in e-bike ownership significantly affects travel behavior, by increasing the likelihood of choosing an e-bike as means of transportation by 14.6 percentage points (p.p.), while correspondingly decreasing the likelihood of choosing other modes, especially conventional bicycles by 5.6 p.p., as well as car and public transportation by about 4 p.p. each. Second, by using observed changes in individual distances traveled and transport-mode-specific emissions values, we calculate net emissions savings per person after acquiring an e-bike. These savings amount to 526.9kg CO2 per person and year. |
| Keywords: | E-Bikes, transport mode choice, CO2 emissions, longitudinal data, mixed multinominal logit model |
| JEL: | R40 C33 Q59 |
| Date: | 2024–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mut:wpaper:40 |
| By: | Spiller, Beia (Resources for the Future); Wilwerding, Rachel; Russo, Suzanne (Resources for the Future) |
| Abstract: | Major investments in electric vehicle (EV) charging station networks will be required to support widespread adoption of EVs. Increasing EV adoption can help improve air quality and, in turn, health outcomes, particularly for communities overburdened by transportation pollution. The creation of a widespread public EV charging station network presents new economic and business opportunities. Thus, an opportunity exists for society to leverage expenditures associated with the electric transition, particularly federal infrastructure investments through programs like the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), to improve equity outcomes for communities and households that have been overburdened by transportation pollution due to compounding inequities and structural racism across society. We provide a framework (developed through a literature review and interviews with community-based and non-governmental organizations, EV charging station companies, utilities, and leading researchers) for understanding how charging station investments in urban areas could help reduce existing inequities or may inadvertently exacerbate inequities if a careful approach is not taken. |
| Date: | 2024–08–29 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rff:dpaper:dp-24-14 |
| By: | Liao, Yanjun (Penny) (Resources for the Future); Luo, Bei; Spiller, Beia (Resources for the Future) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the interaction between financial purchase subsidies and charging infrastructure development in promoting electric vehicle (EV) adoption. Leveraging survey data from the Clean Vehicle Rebate Project (CVRP) in California and spatial information on charging stations, we find a significant positive impact of higher charging station density on self-reported importance of CVRP rebates in EV purchase decisions. The results exhibit substantial heterogeneity between lower- and higher-income individuals, likely due to their different charging needs. Our findings reveal a complementary relationship between improving charging prevalence and providing purchase subsidies, which suggests that a hybrid policy combining these two types of incentives might help optimize the overall cost-effectiveness in accelerating EV adoption. |
| Date: | 2024–07–22 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rff:dpaper:dp-24-12 |
| By: | Gibbons, Stephen; Heblich, Stephan; Pinchbeck, Edward W. |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the reversibility of the effects of transport infrastructure investments, based on a programme that removed much of the rail network in Britain during the mid-20ℎ century. We find that a 10% loss in rail access between 1950 and 1980 caused a persistent 3% decline in local population relative to unaffected areas, implying that the 1 in 5 places most exposed to the cuts saw 24 percentage points less population growth than the 1 in 5 places that were least exposed. The cuts reduced local jobs and shares of skilled workers and young people. |
| Keywords: | rail; infrastructure; beeching cuts |
| JEL: | H54 R10 R40 N74 |
| Date: | 2024–09–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:124531 |
| By: | Odolinski, Kristofer (Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute (VTI)); Ek, Karin (Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute (VTI)) |
| Abstract: | Multinomial logit models of firms’ choice of transport chain and shipment size are estimated for 16 commodity groups. The estimations are based on the Swedish Commodity Flow Survey (CFS) for 2016 and 2021 with choice data for individual shipments. The CFS is combined with cost and transport time data from the Swedish national freight transport model, Samgods, in order to estimate the impact of transport costs on firms’ transport chain and shipment size choice. Empirical midpoints of shipment sizes are included in the estimations such that the impact of ordering cost and holding cost are considered, which influences the transport cost estimates. Overall, results show that transport costs have a statistically significant impact on firm’s choice of transport, and the impact varies with respect to commodity group. |
| Keywords: | Stochastic freight model; Disaggregate freight model; Freight mode choice; Transport chain; Shipment size; Commodity flow survey |
| JEL: | R41 |
| Date: | 2024–09–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:vtiwps:2024_005 |
| By: | Anita Sanchez (University of the Incarnate Word, San Antonio, USA) |
| Abstract: | The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) is responsible for supporting approximately 80, 000 miles of road across the state (Texas Department of Transportation n.d.). In addition, TxDOT plays a key role in providing safe and dependable transportation results for the State of Texas. This includes sustaining a safe system approach throughout the State to keep Texas roads secure. Currently, the number one cause of accidents on Texas highways is excessive speed (Texas Department of Transportation 2023b). Regrettably, excessive speed is not the only shortcoming burdening Texas drivers. Wrong-way drivers on highways and other roads present a serious risk to all motorists. Collisions involving vehicles traveling the wrong way on divided highways are the most serious type of accident often resulting in fatalities (NTSB 2012). According to KRIS 6 News (2023a), 60, 000 people travel across the Harbor Bridge in Corpus Christi every day. Eight people have died in wrong-way collisions on the southbound stretch of road between the Harbor Bridge and US Highway 181, connecting Portland and Corpus Christi, in the last eight years (KRIS 6 News 2023b). These fatalities prompted research into Harbor Bridge easy access exits. In Corpus Christi, Department of Public Safety (DPS) troopers and local police departments find averting wrong-way drivers commonplace. To detour wrong-way drivers, TxDOT has closed numerous off-ramps in the area indefinitely. This analysis report of freeway-related wrong-way collisions will explore problems, issues, and countermeasures TxDOT has encountered in Corpus Christi, Texas. |
| Keywords: | Texas, Department of Transportation, TxDOT, drivers, wrong way, Corpus Christi, Portland, accident, Harbor Bridge |
| Date: | 2024–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:smo:raiswp:0362 |
| By: | Rodriguez, Daniel A. PhD; Pike, Susie PhD; McNally, Michael PhD; Li, Meiqing |
| Abstract: | During the pandemic, California’s four major rail systems— Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART), San Diego Metropolitan Transit System (MTS), Sacramento Regional Transit (SacRT), and Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LA Metro)—experienced an average ridership decline of 72 percent between 2019 and 2021. BART had the greatest decrease (87 percent) and MTS the lowest (47 percent). However, ridership changes varied significantly across individual stations, with stations located in the central business district or at the end of lines having the highest ridership losses. Land use, development density, and the pedestrian environment are strongly associated with station-level transit ridership. We examined how these characteristics affect transit ridership pre- and post-COVID and how they differ across station types based on longitudinal data collected between 2019 and 2021 for 242 rail stations belonging to BART, MTS, SacRT, and LA Metro. |
| Keywords: | Social and Behavioral Sciences |
| Date: | 2024–09–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:itsdav:qt3km8b4jw |
| By: | Elizabeth C. Klee; Adair Morse; Chaehee Shin |
| Abstract: | Financing cost differentials tilt the calculus for households toward electric vehicles (EVs). Using 85 million observations on U.S. auto loans, we study households’ credit risk by engine type, seek to uncover the sources and ask if credit risk differentials are being priced. We find that EV borrowers default 29% less relative to internal combustion engine vehicle (ICEV) borrowers with a back-of-the-envelope value of $1, 457 in lender savings. To disentangle selection from expost exposure to differential costs of running an EV, we implement a differential shock exposure by treatment model of Borusyak and Hull (2023). Do lenders passalong these savings to borrowers? EV borrowers pay 2.2 percentage point lower interest rate, the equivalent of $2, 711 in foregone payments. This lower rate is only for captive (manufacturer-based) lenders, not for bank and nonbank lenders, suggestive of policy and strategic motives by manufacturers, not a passing along of credit risk value. Another $1, 457 is probably not being priced to households. Finally, we find that the ABS market knows, at least partially, allowing for less in loan loss reserves buffering the ABS, reflecting $233 in savings for the ABS issuer. |
| Keywords: | Auto loans; Climate finance; Electric vehicles |
| Date: | 2024–08–16 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedgfe:2024-65 |
| By: | King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center (King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center) |
| Abstract: | As shipping has the advantage of being the most cost-effective mode of transportation, it will continue to grow with increasing international trade flows. Therefore, this advantage must be leveraged to achieve the long-term goals of the maritime industry. |
| Keywords: | Alternative fuels, Carbon market, Clean technology, Climate change |
| Date: | 2024–03–25 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:prc:wbrief:ks--2024-wb04 |
| By: | Rubal Dua; Prateek Bansal; Jinghai Huo (King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center) |
| Abstract: | Since the seminal work of Berry, Levinsohn, and Pakes (1995), random coefficient logit (RCL) has become the workhorse model for estimating demand elasticities in markets with differentiated products using aggregated sales data. While the ability to represent flexible substitution patterns makes RCL a preferable model, its estimation is computationally challenging due to the numerical inversion of the demand function. The recently proposed inverse product differentiation logit (IPDL) addresses these computational challenges by directly specifying the inverse demand function and representing flexible substitution patterns through nonhierarchical product segmentation in multiple dimensions. Unlike the two-stage simulation-based estimation of RCL, IPDL requires the estimation of a traditional linear instrumental variable (IV) regression model. In theory, IPDL appears to be an attractive alternative to RCL, but its potential has not yet been explored in empirical studies. We present the first application of IPDL in understanding the demand for passenger cars in China using provincial-level sales data. Our results indicate that the elasticity estimates of IPDL and RCL are not significantly different, i.e., that IPDL can capture substitution patterns in a similar manner as can RCL. The estimation of IPDL takes less than a second on a regular computer (i.e., it is approximately 500 times faster than RCL). Overall, the flexibility and computational efficiency of IPDL makes it a workhorse model for demand estimation using market-level aggregated sales data. |
| Date: | 2023–12–26 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:prc:mpaper:ks--2023-mp05 |
| By: | Julia M. Puaschunder (Columbia University, USA) |
| Abstract: | Space travel has a long history throughout the 20th century. Outer space exploration started with governmental endeavors in the 1950s and 1960s. During the cold war era, the so-called ‘space-race’ between the United States and the former Soviet Union led to major direct discoveries and accomplishments in outer space but also entailed indirect positive effects on the economy and society. Through the turn of the millennium, a new phenomenon started with a shift of former governmental space travel to offering private space experiences. In the most recent years, there has been a rapid advent of commercialized space travel options, which are expected to rise in scale and scope in the future. Privatized space travel has many short-term, medium-term and long-term advantages ranging from innovation sparking economic growth, first-mover advantages as well as leadership establishment. Conquering outer space on private sector tickets, however, may also entail various costs, risks and disadvantages that may or may not be obviously noticeable. For instance, in the short-term horizon, space travel is still a highly risky activity that can lead to fatal accidents and serious long-term health impairments. In the medium-term, space contamination and pollution have been reported as worrisome developments, which will exacerbate if space travel becomes commercialized and affordable to the global masses. The commercialization of space travel is also a legal and regulatory lacuna that bears risks of unforeseen political tensions, environmental degradation and human-ecosystem unbalancing. This article strives to inform a broad range of space travel stakeholders – like politicians, regulators, global governance executives but also non-governmental, private sector actors – about potential opportunities as well as risks of commercialized space travel. The article is organized as follows: An introduction will briefly touch on the historical advent and preliminary attempts to regulate and control space travel as well as economic problems arising to classify space as a common good. The theoretical part will give a snapshot of the history of space law from an international law perspective with reference to similar cases, such as the law of the sea. The empirical analysis will offer a first attempt to conduct a law & economics cost-benefit analysis with discounting different time perspectives for space travel benefits and costs. The discussion closes with a prospect of future research opportunities on the law and economics of commercialized space travel. |
| Keywords: | behavioral economics, commercialization, commercialized space travel, common goods, cost-benefit analysis, discounting, law & economics, Liability Convention, Moon treaty, outer space, Outer Space Treaty, private sector, public sector, Registration Convention, space, space travel |
| Date: | 2024–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:smo:raiswp:0364 |
| By: | Andres Felipe Guzman; Freddy Segundo Navarro Pineda (King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center) |
| Abstract: | Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a comprehensive methodology that contributes to informed decision-making and addresses environmental challenges across different sectors. The methodology has significantly evolved from its first development by the Coca-Cola Company in 1969 to its standardization by the International Organization for Standardization. The flexibility of LCA in environmental impact assessments in various industries, activities, and products has enabled it to support sustainability goals and initiatives such as the Paris Agreement and the European Union’s circular economy action plan. Specifically, in the air transportation sector, LCA has been applied in specific case studies involving fuel options, combustion emissions, and aircraft technologies to reduce climate impacts and achieve net-zero targets. The International Civil Aviation Organization has also developed a methodology to evaluate life cycle greenhouse gas emissions for aviation fuels that aligns with the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation sustainability criteria. |
| Keywords: | Alternative fuels, Carbon market, Clean technology, Climate change |
| Date: | 2024–03–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:prc:mpaper:ks--2024-mp02 |