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Beyond cost-benefit analysis: the search for a comprehensive evaluation of transport investment

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  • Vickerman, Roger

Abstract

Major advances have been made in trying to go beyond the conventional cost-benefit analysis appraisal of major transport projects that focus almost entirely on user benefits. Whilst newer methods to estimate the potential for agglomeration impacts in an imperfectly competitive world have become more mainstream there is still a desire to be able to capture more robustly the even more transformational impacts that are often claimed to result from major projects. This paper reviews some of these approaches and discusses how they have been used in some projects in the United Kingdom. It concludes that there is still scope for further improvement but that the desire of policy makers for precise estimates may have to be modified.

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  • Vickerman, Roger, 2017. "Beyond cost-benefit analysis: the search for a comprehensive evaluation of transport investment," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 5-12.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:retrec:v:63:y:2017:i:c:p:5-12
    DOI: 10.1016/j.retrec.2017.04.003
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Infrastructure investment; Cost-benefit analysis; Wider economic impacts; High-speed rail;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L91 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities - - - Transportation: General
    • R11 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, Environmental Issues, and Changes
    • R42 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Transportation Economics - - - Government and Private Investment Analysis; Road Maintenance; Transportation Planning
    • R53 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Regional Government Analysis - - - Public Facility Location Analysis; Public Investment and Capital Stock

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