TU Delft Open Access Journals
Not a member yet
3113 research outputs found
Sort by
Car Ownership and Status: Implications for Fuel Efficiency Policies from the Viewpoint of Theories of Happiness and Welfare Economics
Full text linkResearch on ‘happiness’ suggests that once an average per capita income of around US$ 10,000 is achieved in a country, further increases in income will not lead to a significant increase in happiness. Additional income will probably often be spent on the satisfaction of mainly ‘relative’ needs, of which ‘status goods’ would be one example. From that perspective, an overall shift to more fuel-efficient cars (i.e. smaller cars with less power) would not necessarily, or only to a limited extent, result in less happiness. From a welfare economic perspective, the satisfaction of the relative needs pertaining to consumption can be considered as a form of consumption externalities. This creates a welfare economic basis for government intervention. A model in which these consumption externalities are studied is presented here. Government intervention would include stimulating consumption of lowerstatus goods and discouraging consumption of higher-status ones. We speculate, however, that to achieve a significant increase in the fuel efficiency of a country’s car fleet through pricing policies, huge price increases may often be needed. As acceptance of price increases as a policy instrument is often low, ‘fee-bates’ and tradeable permits may be more preferable instruments
Letter from the Editor-in-Chief
No full textWe are happy to announce a new scholarly journal in the field of transport and infrastructure: The European Journal of Transport and Infrastructure Research (EJTIR). This refereed quarterly covers the field of transport, infrastructure, logistics and their mutual relationships
Calculating External Costs of Transportation in Norway: Principles and Results
Full text linkTransport activities are known to have substantial negative external effects. One of the reasons for trying to value these effects is that the cost to society of using a specific transport mode should be reflected in the price that is paid by the transport user and thus form the basis for a transport tax policy. Previous calculations of marginal external costs of transport at the Institute of Transport Economics (TØI) as well as the methods employed are in many cases outdated and need revision. Therefore it has been decided to update the methods as well as the estimates. External effects included in this analysis are: a) emissions to air, b) noise, c) traffic accidents, d) wear of infrastructure and e) congestion. External costs are seen as related to transport volume, intensity of the effect, degree of harm of the effect and unit cost of harm. The assumptions of these relations will be discussed. One problem with the shape of the cost function is whether the effect (e.g. noise) can be said to be proportional to the transport volume. In estimating the unit costs mainly willingness-to-pay (WTP) methods will be applied. The marginal external costs of each mode or vehicle type is compared to what is actually paid at the margin by these modes in taxes and charges that are related to transport volume. Small vans and passenger cars internalise approximately their external cost in the form of traffic charges. Airplanes pay a lot more than their external cost because they cover the total cost of the CAA (Central Aviation Administration). Buses, passenger trains and cargo vessels pay a very small part of external costs in the form of traffic related charges