Social costs of land use claims for transport infrastructure: a survey for The Netherlands

In this paper the social costs of land use claims for transport infrastructure are investigated for The Netherlands. This is a complement to the study on ''''Efficient pricing of traffic: estimation of the social costs of the use of transport modes" carried out in The Netherlands by CE (1999). In the present study we pay attention to the acquisition costs of land for infrastructure, the indirect costs of land use caused by infrastructure and the costs of infrastructure as barriers in - and the fragmentation of - the landscape. The paper gives an overview of the problems associated with measuring the land related costs of transport infrastructure. Estimates are given of the land use claims %28in m2) for various types of transport infrastructure. In addition some of the land related cost categories are estimated. These costs are allocated to the various transport modes (cars and trucks of various types, barges, rail and aircraft).

Rail investment and port competition: a case study for the Betuweroute

This paper presents a study on the impact of investment in the Betuweroute and alternative transport pricing schemes on port competition between Rotterdam, Hamburg and Antwerp. The Betuweroute is a 160 kilometre dedicated freight railway line connecting the port of Rotterdam with the German Ruhr area. If the line could, in the near or more remote future, attract a large share of transit freight, it will be of considerable importance for the competitive position of the port of Rotterdam relative to Hamburg and Antwerp. We use a transport network model that includes the three ports and allows for transport by road, rail and inland waterways to and from the Ruhr area. We run model simulations for scenario’s with and without the Betuweroute and with and without marginal social cost pricing. The results show that, although the Betuweroute is a welfare reducing investment, it may indeed be of crucial importance to the port of Rotterdam

Capital-Energy Substitution and Shifts in Factor Demand: A Meta-Analysis

This paper presents results of a meta-regression analysis on empirical estimates of capital-energy substitution. Theoretically it is clear that a distinction should be made between Morishima substitution elasticities and cross-price elasticities. The former represent purely technical substitution possibilities while the latter include an income effect and therefore represent economic substitution potential. We estimate a meta-regression model with separate coefficients for the two elasticity samples. Our findings suggest that primary model assumptions on returns to scale, technological change and separability of input factors matter for the outcome of a primary study. Aggregation of variables and the type of data used in empirical research are also relevant sources of systematic effect-size variation. Taking these factors into consideration, we compute ideal-typical elasticities for the short, medium and long run. The resulting figures clearly show that s! ubstitution elasticities are substantially higher than cross price elasticities. Therefore, despite considerable technical opportunities for capital-energy substitution, they are almost entirely outweighed by the negative income effect brought about by energy price increases; the short and medium run cross price elasticities are not statistically different from zero. In the long run this pattern does not hold. Our findings therefore suggest that actual changes in the demand for capital due to energy price increases take time

The Impact of Uncertainty on Investment: A Meta-Analysis

In this paper we perform a meta-analysis on empirical estimates of the impact between investment and uncertainty. Since the outcomes of primary studies are largely incomparable with respect to the magnitude of the effect, our analysis focuses on the direction and statistical significance of the relationship. The standard approach in this situation is to estimate an ordered probit model on a categorical estimate, defined in terms of the direction of the effect. The estimates are transformed into marginal effects, in order to represent the changes in the probability of finding a negative significant, insignificant, and positive significant estimate. Although a meta-analysis generally does not allow for inferences on the correctness of model specifications in primary studies, our results give clear directions for model building in empirical investment research. For example, not including factor prices in investment models may seriously affect the model outco! mes. Furthermore, we find that Q-models produce more negative significant estimates than other models do, ceteris paribus. The outcome of a study is also affected by the type of data used in a primary study. Although it is clear that meta-analysis cannot always give decisive insights into the explanations for the variation in empirical outcomes, our meta-analysis shows that we can explain to a large extent why empirical estimates of the investment-uncertainty relationship differ

Weather and Travel Time of Public Transport Trips

In the present study we carry out an analysis of speed fluctuations as a determinant of the quality of public transport. We do this by focusing on a special cause of unreliability: variations in weather conditions. We use hourly measured weather conditions. The panel data results imply that snow has a substantial negative effect on the speed public transport. The associated welfare loss is 53 eurocent per commuting trip per person made by train and 76 eurocent per commuting trip per person made by bus, tram and metro. Rain strongly affects the speed of bus, tram and metro commuting trips on congested routes. The associated welfare loss is 1.15 euro per commuting trip per person

Social Costs of Direct and Indirect Land Use by Transport Infrastructure. An Estimation for The Netherlands

In this paper the social costs of land use for transport infrastructure are investigated for the Netherlands. We pay attention to the acquisition costs of land for infrastructure and the indirect costs of land use caused by transport. The paper gives an overview of the problems associated with measuring land related costs of transport infrastructure. Estimates are given of land use (in m2) for various types of transport infrastructure. In addition some of the land related cost categories are estimated. These costs are allocated to the various transport modes (cars and trucks of various types, barges, rail, and aircraft) on the basis of their relative transport kilometres and their passenger car equivalents. We find that direct and indirect land use equals respectively 7.2 % and 1.6 % of the total area of the Netherlands. Indirect land use appears to be especially important for aviation. The importance of indirect land use is shown by the value of land involved. The economic valuation of the indirect land use is about 16 % of the total land related costs of transport infrastructure. 1

Welfare Effects of Adverse Weather through Speed Changes in Car Commuting Trips

This paper investigates the welfare effect of adverse weather through changes in the speed of individuals’ car commuting trips in the entire Netherlands. Weather measurements are local and time specific (hourly basis). As most commuters travel twice a day between home and work, we are able to estimate the effect of adverse weather employing panel data techniques, which is novel in this context. We find that for most commuters the welfare effects of adverse weather conditions are negative but small. However, the commuters’ welfare costs due to rain are rather substantial during rush hours in congested areas (and up to 15 percent of the overall commuting costs)