Description
Book SynopsisThe regulation of road transport externalities - environmental pollution, noise annoyance, accidents and congestion - is one of the most important issues in contemporary transport policies.
The Economics of Regulating Road Transport explores welfare economic evaluations - in terms of efficiency as well as equity and social feasibility - of regulatory policies and policy mixes directly aimed at, or indirectly connected to the containment of market failures in road transport.
The discussion ranges from static analyses at the level of individual actors and firms to the dynamic behaviour of large spatio-economic systems. Part one explores the economic rationale behind regulating road transport, part two investigates issues of efficiency in the regulation of road transport and part three discusses the issue of equity and social feasibility versus efficiency.
This book will be of interest to students of environmental economics and transport economics and to transport and environmental policymakers at the local, regional, national and international level.
Trade Review'In sum, this book with its focus on individual behaviour and demand for travel is a refreshing change from supply augmenting policies and technical fixes that are routinely advocated in this field (but which do not work in the long run). It is not often that one comes across research which is theoretically and empirically sound and at the same time has immediate policy relevance. Economists interested in transport issues in third world cities may do worse than mull over Verhoef's findings and conclusions as they wait in traffic jams.'Table of ContentsPart I Introductory chapters: external effects and social costs of road transport - conceptual issues and recent empirical results for the Netherlands. Part II Efficiency of regulation: second-best regulation of road transport externalities; second-best congestion pricing with an untolled alternative; information provision, flat and fine congestion pricing in regulating stochastic congestion; the economics of regulatory parking policies; transport, spatial economy and the global environment. Part III Equity aspects and social feasibility of regulation: efficiency and equity in externalities; the trade-off between efficiency, effectiveness and social feasibility of regulating road transport externalities; the social feasibility of road pricing - a case study for the Randstad area; the social feasibility and effectiveness of regulatory parking policies - a case study at the firm level. Part IV Conclusion: towards an efficient and socially feasible regulation of road transport externalities.
