Transport Infrastructure Investment

Examines key principles that should be considered by governments in deciding how to provide and pay for surface transport infrastructure, with a view to best serving societies’ needs and employing public resources.

This report describes evaluation methods for transport infrastructure investments to ensure that scarce resources are allocated in a way that maximises their net return to society.

A major concern of all decision makers has been to ensure that there are clear benefits from transport investment proposals. The travel time savings are clear, but the wider economic developments have presented enormous difficulty in terms of both theoretical arguments and empirical evidence. This book reviews the history of the debate and argues that the agenda has changed. These issues are presented together with a major analytical investigation of macroeconomic models, evaluation in transport and microeconomic approaches. The final part of the book presents a series of case studies for road, rail and airport investment schemes, particularly focusing on the economic development aspects.

Presents a set of 37 classic readings in the literature that show the development of analysis in the field of transport infrastructure. Readings are arranged into five sections: foundation papers; infrastructure and economic development; infrastructure networks; infrastructure measurement and evaluation; and case studies. Contributions are drawn from such publications as Journal of Monetary Economics; Economic Journal, Regional and Urban Economics, Journal of Political Economy, Review of Economics and Statistics, Empirical Economics, Regional Science and Urban Economics, New England Economic Review, Policy Studies Journal, Scandinavian Journal of Economics, and Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, among others, as well as a few books. Contributions range from one written in 1929 to 1999. Lacks a subject index. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Economic Role of Transport Infrastructure: Theory and Models helps evaluate the economic effects of transport infrastructure investments within a cost-benefit framework for maximum economic impact. The book analyzes the primary empirical approaches used to gauge the economic effects of transport infrastructures, providing in-depth discussions on data issues, input-output techniques, and econometric methodologies. Users will find empirical evidence organized from a transport mode point-of-view, inspiring researchers to conduct comparative analysis for various infrastructure projects. Topics cover infrastructure’s impact on economic growth using theoretical frameworks, including exogenous growth models, endogenous growth models, and new economic geography models. In addition, readers will also learn tips for conducting infrastructure impact studies and how to improve the effectiveness of infrastructural investments design. Explains and evaluates the economic effects of transport infrastructure investments, including direct and indirect, short and long run impact, and local and spillover outcomes Provides up-to-date coverage of quantitative techniques and empirical results for transportation and economic impact issues Explains the steps for conducting impact studies for proposed infrastructure projects Analyzes infrastructure’s role on economic growth through theoretical, methodological and empirical perspectives Features case studies describing real-world methods