IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/mut/wpaper/09.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

An econometric analysis of motorway renewal costs in Germany

Author

Listed:
  • Heike Link

    (German Institute for Economic Research, Berlin)

Abstract

This paper analyses the cost bahaviour of motorway renewal costs with the aim to derive an estimate of marginal infrastructure costs per vehicle-km of trucks as part of optimal road user charges. The analysis is based on cross-sectional data of motorway renewal costs and traffic volume per motorway section in Germany during the period 1980-1999. The translog model estimated in this paper includes the factor input prices for labour, material and capital, the average annual daily traffic volume of trucks and passenger cars with the respective second-order terms. and a set of dummy variables for regions (the German lŠnder) as well as for the type of material used for renewal as the most explanatory variables. In contrast to this, we could not find any significant influence of the age of motorway sections, the past renewal expenditures and the climate conditions measured as days with temperature fluctuations around zero. The cost elasticity, i.e. the relationship between marginal and average costs found in this analysis ranges from 0.05 up to 1.17 with a digressive increase of marginal costs.

Suggested Citation

  • Heike Link, 2004. "An econometric analysis of motorway renewal costs in Germany," Working Papers 09, Institute of Transport Economics, University of Muenster.
    • Handle: RePEc:mut:wpaper:09
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.wiwi.uni-muenster.de/ivm/sites/ivm/files/documents/forschung/diskussionspapiere/diskussionspapier09.pdf
    File Function: First version, 2004
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Daughety, Andrew F & Nelson, Forrest D, 1988. "An Econometric Analysis of Changes in the Cost and Production Structure of the Trucking Industry, 1953-1982," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 70(1), pages 67-75, February.
    2. BARTEN, Anton P., 1969. "Maximum likelihood estimation of a complete system of demand equations," LIDAM Reprints CORE 34, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
    3. Barten, A. P., 1969. "Maximum likelihood estimation of a complete system of demand equations," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 1(1), pages 7-73.
    4. Small, Kenneth A & Winston, Clifford, 1988. "Optimal Highway Durability," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 78(3), pages 560-569, June.
    5. Christensen, Laurits R & Jorgenson, Dale W & Lau, Lawrence J, 1975. "Transcendental Logarithmic Utility Functions," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 65(3), pages 367-383, June.
    6. Diewert, Walter E & Wales, Terence J, 1987. "Flexible Functional Forms and Global Curvature Conditions," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 55(1), pages 43-68, January.
    7. Pedro Cantos Sánchez, 2000. "A subadditivity test for the cost function of the principal European railways," Transport Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(3), pages 275-290, January.
    8. Gallant, A. Ronald & Golub, Gene H., 1984. "Imposing curvature restrictions on flexible functional forms," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 26(3), pages 295-321, December.
    9. Terrell, Dek, 1996. "Incorporating Monotonicity and Concavity Conditions in Flexible Functional Forms," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 11(2), pages 179-194, March-Apr.
    10. Russell Davidson & James G. MacKinnon, 1985. "Testing Linear and Loglinear Regressions against Box-Cox Alternatives," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 18(3), pages 499-517, August.
    11. Newbery, David M, 1990. "Pricing and Congestion: Economic Principles Relevant to Pricing Roads," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 6(2), pages 22-38, Summer.
    12. Andrew N. Kleit & Dek Terrell, 2001. "Measuring Potential Efficiency Gains From Deregulation Of Electricity Generation: A Bayesian Approach," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 83(3), pages 523-530, August.
    13. Newbery, David M, 1988. "Road Damage Externalities and Road User Charges," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 56(2), pages 295-316, March.
    14. Johansson, Per & Nilsson, Jan-Eric, 2004. "An economic analysis of track maintenance costs," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 11(3), pages 277-286, July.
    15. Talvitie, A. P. & Sikow, Catharina, 1992. "Analysis of productivity in highway construction using alternative average cost definitions," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 26(6), pages 461-478, December.
    16. Link, Heike & Nilsson, Jan-Eric, 2005. "Infrastructure," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(1), pages 49-83, January.
    17. Newbery, David M, 1989. "Cost Recovery from Optimally Designed Roads," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 56(222), pages 165-185, May.
    18. Berndt, Ernst R & Khaled, Mohammed S, 1979. "Parametric Productivity Measurement and Choice among Flexible Functional Forms," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 87(6), pages 1220-1245, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Link, Heike & Götze, Wolfgang & Himanen, Veli, 2009. "Estimating the marginal costs of airport operation using multivariate time series models with correlated error terms," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 15(1), pages 41-46.
    2. Luigi Benfratello & Alberto Iozzi & Paola Valbonesi, 2009. "Technology and incentive regulation in the Italian motorways industry," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 35(2), pages 201-221, April.
    3. Neil Murray & Heike Link, 2020. "A Duration Approach for Estimating the Marginal Renewal Cost at German Motorways," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1898, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    4. Yarmukhamedov, Sherzod & Smith, Andrew S.J. & Thiebaud, Jean-Christophe, 2020. "Competitive tendering, ownership and cost efficiency in road maintenance services in Sweden: A panel data analysis," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 194-204.
    5. Meunier, David & Quinet, Emile, 2010. "Tips and Pitfalls in PPP design," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 126-138.
    6. Link, Heike & Nilsson, Jan-Eric, 2005. "Infrastructure," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(1), pages 49-83, January.
    7. Ozbay, Kaan & Bartin, Bekir & Yanmaz-Tuzel, Ozlem & Berechman, Joseph, 2007. "Alternative methods for estimating full marginal costs of highway transportation," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 41(8), pages 768-786, October.
    8. Yossi Berechman & Bekir Bartin & Ozlem Yanmaz-Tuzel & Kaan Ozbay, 2011. "The Full Marginal Costs of Highway Travel: Methods and Empirical Estimation for North America," Chapters, in: André de Palma & Robin Lindsey & Emile Quinet & Roger Vickerman (ed.), A Handbook of Transport Economics, chapter 19, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    9. Chris Nash & Jeremy Shires & Heike Link, 2010. "Quantifizierung der sozialen Grenzkosten des Straßenverkehrs: welches sind die wichtigsten Komponenten?," Vierteljahrshefte zur Wirtschaftsforschung / Quarterly Journal of Economic Research, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research, vol. 79(2), pages 13-38.
    10. Wheat, Phill, 2017. "Scale, quality and efficiency in road maintenance: Evidence for English local authorities," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 46-53.
    11. Paul J.J. Welfens, 2006. "Grundlagen rationaler Transportpolitik bei Integration," EIIW Discussion paper disbei144, Universitätsbibliothek Wuppertal, University Library.
    12. Phill Wheat & Alexander D. Stead & William H. Greene, 2019. "Robust stochastic frontier analysis: a Student’s t-half normal model with application to highway maintenance costs in England," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 51(1), pages 21-38, February.
    13. Andersson, Mats, 2011. "Marginal cost of railway infrastructure wear and tear for freight and passenger trains in Sweden," European Transport \ Trasporti Europei, ISTIEE, Institute for the Study of Transport within the European Economic Integration, issue 48, pages 3-23.
    14. Heike Link & Wolfgang Götze & Veli Himanen, 2006. "Estimating the marginal costs of airport operation by using multivariate time series model with correlated error terms," Working Papers 11, Institute of Transport Economics, University of Muenster.
    15. Jussila Hammes, Johanna & Volden, Gro Holst & Welde, Morten & Börjesson, Maria & Odeck, James, 2021. "Finding transport projects with high value for money : what are the socio-geographic determinants?," Working Papers 2021:4, Swedish National Road & Transport Research Institute (VTI).
    16. Vergara-Novoa, Cristian & Sepúlveda-Rojas, Juan Pedro & Alfaro, Miguel D. & Soto, Pablo & Benitez-Fuentes, Paulo Andrés, 2020. "Analysis of revenues, costs and average costs of highway concessions in Chile," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 114-123.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Link, Heike & Nilsson, Jan-Eric, 2005. "Infrastructure," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(1), pages 49-83, January.
    2. Fofana, Abdulai & Jaffry, Shabbar, 2008. "Measuring Oligopsony Power of UK Salmon Retailers," Working Papers 61116, Scotland's Rural College (formerly Scottish Agricultural College), Land Economy & Environment Research Group.
    3. Barnett, William A. & Serletis, Apostolos, 2008. "Consumer preferences and demand systems," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 147(2), pages 210-224, December.
    4. William A. Barnett & Ikuyasu Usui, 2007. "The Theoretical Regularity Properties of the Normalized Quadratic Consumer Demand Model," International Symposia in Economic Theory and Econometrics, in: Functional Structure Inference, pages 107-127, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    5. Feng, Guohua & Serletis, Apostolos, 2008. "Productivity trends in U.S. manufacturing: Evidence from the NQ and AIM cost functions," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 142(1), pages 281-311, January.
    6. Heike Link, 2003. "Estimates of marginal infrastructure costs for different modes of transport," ERSA conference papers ersa03p75, European Regional Science Association.
    7. Apostolos Serletis & Guohua Feng, 2015. "Imposing Theoretical Regularity on Flexible Functional Forms," Econometric Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(1-2), pages 198-227, February.
    8. Serletis, Apostolos & Shahmoradi, Asghar, 2010. "Consumption effects of government purchases," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 892-905, September.
    9. Millimet, Daniel L. & Tchernis, Rusty, 2008. "Estimating high-dimensional demand systems in the presence of many binding non-negativity constraints," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 147(2), pages 384-395, December.
    10. Holt, Matthew T., 2002. "Inverse demand systems and choice of functional form," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 117-142, January.
    11. Hendrik Wolff & Thomas Heckelei & Ron Mittelhammer, 2010. "Imposing Curvature and Monotonicity on Flexible Functional Forms: An Efficient Regional Approach," Computational Economics, Springer;Society for Computational Economics, vol. 36(4), pages 309-339, December.
    12. Barnett, William A. & Serletis, Apostolos, 2008. "Measuring Consumer Preferences and Estimating Demand Systems," MPRA Paper 12318, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Mark M. Pitt & Daniel L. Millimet, 1999. "Estimation of Coherent Demand Systems with Many Binding Non-Negativity Constraints," Working Papers 99-4, Brown University, Department of Economics.
    14. McCausland, William J., 2008. "On Bayesian analysis and computation for functions with monotonicity and curvature restrictions," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 142(1), pages 484-507, January.
    15. Marc Gaudry & Emile Quinet, 2009. "Track wear-and-tear cost by traffic class: Functional form, zero output levels and marginal cost pricing recovery on the French rail network," Working Papers halshs-00574977, HAL.
    16. Gagné, Robert, 1988. "Réglementation et technologie dans l’industrie du transport par camion : une présentation de la méthodologie," L'Actualité Economique, Société Canadienne de Science Economique, vol. 64(2), pages 287-310, juin.
    17. Feng, Guohua & Serletis, Apostolos, 2010. "Efficiency, technical change, and returns to scale in large US banks: Panel data evidence from an output distance function satisfying theoretical regularity," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 127-138, January.
    18. Ling-yun He & Li Liu, 2016. "The demand for road transport in China: imposing theoretical regularity and flexible functional forms selection," Papers 1612.02656, arXiv.org.
    19. Holt, Matthew T. & Goodwin, Barry K., 2009. "The Almost Ideal and Translog Demand Systems," MPRA Paper 15092, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    20. Wolff, Hendrik & Heckelei, Thomas & Mittelhammer, Ronald C., 2004. "Imposing Monotonicity And Curvature On Flexible Functional Forms," 2004 Annual meeting, August 1-4, Denver, CO 20256, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Cost functions; motorway renewal costs; marginal costs; infrastructure charging; road transport;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • R48 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Transportation Economics - - - Government Pricing and Policy
    • L92 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities - - - Railroads and Other Surface Transportation
    • C31 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Cross-Sectional Models; Spatial Models; Treatment Effect Models; Quantile Regressions; Social Interaction Models

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:mut:wpaper:09. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Birgit Rueschenschmidt (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ilmuede.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.