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Capacity cost structure, welfare and cost recovery: are transport infrastructures with high fixed costs a handicap?

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  • Bruno De Borger
  • Fay Dunkerley
  • Stef Proost

Abstract

In this paper, we consider a region that invests in infrastructure used by both local demand and through transport. We then compare transport systems that have, for a given capacity, the same total infrastructure cost but vary in the proportion of fixed costs and variable capacity costs. We show, first, that infrastructure which has (ceteris paribus) a higher share of fixed costs leads to higher welfare for the regional government building it. Contrary to what is commonly believed, it therefore requires less, rather than more, federal subsidies. Second, we find that, even for capacity characterized by, ceteris paribus, very high shares of fixed costs, financing of infrastructure is generally not an important issue as long as regions are allowed to toll through traffic. Third, if member states cannot toll through traffic, or if a federal authority (such as the EU or the USA) can impose pricing at the global marginal social cost, our analysis shows that this reduces investment incentives for the individual regions, and subsidies may be needed. We discuss the policy implications of these findings and illustrate all theoretical results numerically.

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Bibliographic Info

Paper provided by Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Centrum voor Economische Studiën in its series Center for Economic Studies - Discussion papers with number ces0803.

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Date of creation: Mar 2008
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Handle: RePEc:ete:ceswps:ces0803

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Keywords: capacity cost structure; cost recovery; transport investment;

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  1. Arnott Richard & Kraus Marvin, 1995. "Financing Capacity in the Bottleneck Model," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 272-290, November.
  2. De Borger, B. & Proost, S. & Van Dender, K., 2005. "Congestion and tax competition in a parallel network," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 49(8), pages 2013-2040, November.
  3. Zhang, Anming & Zhang, Yimin, 2003. "Airport charges and capacity expansion: effects of concessions and privatization," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(1), pages 54-75, January.
  4. De Borger B. & Dunkerley F. & Proost S., 2006. "Strategic investment and pricing decisions in a congested transport corridor," Working Papers 2006021, University of Antwerp, Faculty of Applied Economics.
  5. de Palma, André & Lindsey, Robin & Proost, Stef, . "Investment and the use of tax and toll revenues in the transport sector: the research agenda," Open Access publications from Katholieke Universiteit Leuven urn:hdl:123456789/208710, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven.
  6. Richard Arnott & Marvin Kraus, 1995. "Self-Financing of Congestible Facilities in a Growing Economy," Boston College Working Papers in Economics 304., Boston College Department of Economics.
  7. Arnott, Richard & de Palma, Andre & Lindsey, Robin, 1993. "A Structural Model of Peak-Period Congestion: A Traffic Bottleneck with Elastic Demand," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 83(1), pages 161-79, March.
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