Assessing the Benefits of Transport
By: European Conference of Ministers of Transport
Publisher: OECD Publishing
Published: 2001
Place of publication: Paris
Language: eng
Format: [electronic resource] /
Number of pages: 216
ISBN-13: 9789282112847
Subjects: Transportation
Description: This book discusses the full economic benefits - and costs - of transport infrastructure and explores ways to make good estimates of the full impact of planned investments on regional and national economies. It argues for proper account to be taken of all relevant economic weaknesses -- those the project is designed to address such as local monopoly pricing, those associated with use of the infrastructure such as environmental externalities, and possible unintended consequences such as impacts on local labour markets. Care must also be taken to verify that net benefits are likely to accrue to those that the project was intended to benefit. Building on recent groundbreaking work in the United Kingdom this publication suggests ways to improve traditional cost-benefit assessments, overcoming reservations that have inhibited the use of CBA in many countries. The main report is completed with examinations of transport project assessment approaches in France, Germany, the United Kingdom and across Europe together with a discussion of an approach to determining optimal levels of investment in transport infrastructure for maximising socio-economic welfare.
Table of contents: title: Acknowledgements; title: Executive Summary; title: I. Introduction; title: -Background; title: Aims and Deliminitation; title: 2. The Main Benefits of Transport; title: -Accessibility; title: Benefits Due to Increased Accessibility; title: Benefits in Terms of Cost Savings; title: 3. Different Approaches to Measuring Economic Benefits of Transport; title: -Economic or Other Types of Analysis; title: The Macroeconomic Approach; title: The Microeconomic Approach: Cost-Benfit Assessments; title: The Macroeconomic or Macroeconomic Approach?; title: How Can the Different Approaches be Improved/Widened?; title: 4. Socio-Economic Cost-Benefit Assessment; title: -Which Benefits and Costs Should Be Accounted for in CBA?; title: General Evaluation Method; title: Time Saving; title: Safety Improvements; title: 5. Adding Effects to CBA-Multi-Criteria Analysis; title: -Differences between CBA and MCA - Can They Be Combined?; title: A New Deal for Trunk Roads in England - Assessment Principles; title: 6. How Large a Part of External Benefits is Captured by CBA?; title: -External and Internal Benefits; title: Technological External Benefits and CBA; title: Pecuniary External Benefits and CBA; title: 7. Theoretical Treatment of the Relationship between Transport and the Economy; title: -Introduction; title: Perfect Competition; title: Imperfect Competition; title: Implications of the Theoretical Approach; title: Practical Application and Research; title: 8. Summary and Conclusion; title: -Introduction; title: Evidence; title: Implications for Policy and Practice; title: Appendix; title: Annex 1. Means and Ends: Cost Benefit Assessment and Welfare Maximising Investment by Rana Roy; title: Annex 2. Economic Appraisal of European Transport Projects: The State of the Art Revisited by Grant-Muller, Mackie, Nellthorpe, and Pearman, Institute for Transport Studies, University of Leeds; title: Annex 3. Transport and Economic Growth by Roger Vickerman and Jean Monnet; title: Annex 4. Size, Sprawl, Speed, and Efficiency of Cities by Remy Prud'homme and Chang-Woon Lee; title: Annex 5. External Costs and External Benefits by Wolfgang H. Schulz; title: Annex 6. The New Guide to Assess Road Investment Projects by Jean-Pierre Orus