IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ejw/journl/v3y2006i3p551-602.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Do Economists Reach a Conclusion On Rail Transit?

Author

Listed:
  • Ted Balaker
  • Cecilia Joung Kim

Abstract

In the United States, the public debate over urban rail projects is complicated by the lack of agreement on goals. Supporters offer a wide variety of justifications to build and expand rail transit. If one focuses on the judgments of economists, the list of justifications shrinks considerably, but we are still left with a bundle of goals. Compared to other justifications, economists appear to be somewhat optimistic about rail transit’s impact on local economic development, but less optimistic about rail’s ability to achieve environmental improvement and serve the transit-dependent poor. Economists seem quite pessimistic about rail’s ability to achieve key transportation goals like reducing congestion. Economists often attribute rail’s political success to rent-seeking and romantic political factors. Of those economists who offer a big-picture view, there appears to be wide, though not unanimous, agreement that rail’s costs exceed its benefits. And it seems that almost all economists who write about rail agree that various demographic features, such as suburbanization, the declining influence of central business districts, and increasing wealth will make it increasingly difficult to design successful rail systems.

Suggested Citation

  • Ted Balaker & Cecilia Joung Kim, 2006. "Do Economists Reach a Conclusion On Rail Transit?," Econ Journal Watch, Econ Journal Watch, vol. 3(3), pages 551-602, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:3:y:2006:i:3:p:551-602
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://econjwatch.org/File+download/116/2006-09-balakerkim-reach_concl.pdf?mimetype=pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://econjwatch.org/219
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jonathan Richmond, 2001. "A whole-system approach to evaluating urban transit investments," Transport Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(2), pages 141-179.
    2. Glaeser, Edward L. & Kahn, Matthew E., 2004. "Sprawl and urban growth," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: J. V. Henderson & J. F. Thisse (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 56, pages 2481-2527, Elsevier.
    3. Small, Kenneth A., 2005. "Unnoticed Lessons from London," University of California Transportation Center, Working Papers qt4fv237ht, University of California Transportation Center.
    4. Adrian T. Moore & Ted Balaker, 2006. "Do Economists Reach a Conclusion on Taxi Deregulation?," Econ Journal Watch, Econ Journal Watch, vol. 3(1), pages 109-132, January.
    5. Kain, John F, 1992. "The Use of Straw Men in the Economic Evaluation of Rail Transport Projects," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 82(2), pages 487-493, May.
    6. Nelson, Peter & Baglino, Andrew & Harrington, Winston & Safirova, Elena & Lipman, Abram, 2007. "Transit in Washington, DC: Current benefits and optimal level of provision," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(2), pages 231-251, September.
    7. Klein, Daniel, 2004. "The People’s Romance: Why People Love Government (as much as they do)," Ratio Working Papers 31, The Ratio Institute, revised 11 May 2005.
    8. Giuliano, Genevieve & Small, Kenneth A., 1995. "Alternative Strategies for Coping with Traffic Congestion," University of California Transportation Center, Working Papers qt8nw1480v, University of California Transportation Center.
    9. Adam M. Zaretsky, 1994. "Riding the rails: a look at light rail transit," The Regional Economist, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, issue Oct, pages 4-9.
    10. Fielding, Gordon J., 1995. "Congestion Pricing and the Future of Transit," University of California Transportation Center, Working Papers qt0g332530, University of California Transportation Center.
    11. Downs, Anthony, 2004. "Why Traffic Congestion is Here to Stay....and Will Get Worse," University of California Transportation Center, Working Papers qt3sh9003x, University of California Transportation Center.
    12. Bowes, David R. & Ihlanfeldt, Keith R., 2001. "Identifying the Impacts of Rail Transit Stations on Residential Property Values," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(1), pages 1-25, July.
    13. McFadden, Daniel, 1974. "The measurement of urban travel demand," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 303-328, November.
    14. John F. Kain, 1996. "Cost-Effective Alternatives to Atlanta's Costly Rail Rapid Transit System," Harvard Institute of Economic Research Working Papers 1762, Harvard - Institute of Economic Research.
    15. Lave, Charles, 1994. "It Wasn't Supposed To Turn Out Like This: Federal Subsidies and Declining Transit Productivity," University of California Transportation Center, Working Papers qt800596vh, University of California Transportation Center.
    16. Richard Voith, 1991. "Transportation, Sorting and House Values," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 19(2), pages 117-137, June.
    17. Winston, Clifford & Maheshri, Vikram, 2007. "On the social desirability of urban rail transit systems," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(2), pages 362-382, September.
    18. Kain, John F. & Liu, Zvi, 1999. "Secrets of success: assessing the large increases in transit ridership achieved by Houston and San Diego transit providers," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 33(7-8), pages 601-624.
    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. Dennis Coates & Brad R. Humphreys, 2008. "Do Economists Reach a Conclusion on Subsidies for Sports Franchises, Stadiums, and Mega-Events?," Econ Journal Watch, Econ Journal Watch, vol. 5(3), pages 294-315, September.
    2. Blair Jenkins, 2009. "Rent Control: Do Economists Agree?," Econ Journal Watch, Econ Journal Watch, vol. 6(1), pages 73-112, January.
    3. Salanova Grau, Josep Maria & Estrada, Miquel, 2019. "Social optimal shifts and fares for the Barcelona taxi sector," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 111-122.
    4. Amit Tzur, 2019. "Uber Über regulation? Regulatory change following the emergence of new technologies in the taxi market," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 13(3), pages 340-361, September.
    5. Peter Abelson, 2010. "The High Cost of Taxi Regulation, with Special Reference to Sydney," Agenda - A Journal of Policy Analysis and Reform, Australian National University, College of Business and Economics, School of Economics, vol. 17(2), pages 41-72.
    6. Cetin, Tamer & Deakin, Elizabeth, 2019. "Regulation of taxis and the rise of ridesharing," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 149-158.
    7. Daniel B. Klein & Charlotta Stern, 2007. "Is There a Free‐Market Economist in the House? The Policy Views of American Economic Association Members," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 66(2), pages 309-334, April.
    8. Aarhaug, Jørgen & Olsen, Silvia, 2018. "Implications of ride-sourcing and self-driving vehicles on the need for regulation in unscheduled passenger transport," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 573-582.
    9. Long, Jiancheng & Szeto, W.Y. & Du, Jie & Wong, R.C.P., 2017. "A dynamic taxi traffic assignment model: A two-level continuum transportation system approach," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 222-254.
    10. Wong, R.C.P. & Szeto, W.Y., 2018. "An alternative methodology for evaluating the service quality of urban taxis," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 132-140.
    11. Virginie Boutueil & Thomas Quillerier & Anna Voskoboynikova, 2019. "Benefits and Pitfalls of Deregulating Taxi Markets: Can Contrasted Case Studies Help Inform the Debate?," Post-Print hal-02422160, HAL.
    12. Li, Baicheng & Szeto, W.Y., 2019. "Taxi service area design: Formulation and analysis," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 308-333.
    13. Shaheen, Susan PhD & Cano, Lauren & Camel, Madonna, 2015. "Exploring Electric Vehicle Carsharing As A Mobility Option for Older Adults:A Case Study of A Senior Adult Community in The San Francisco Bay Area," Institute of Transportation Studies, Research Reports, Working Papers, Proceedings qt0cz5s74s, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Berkeley.
    14. Thomas Tacker, 2021. "Competitive Safety in Uber versus the Taxi Industry," Journal of Private Enterprise, The Association of Private Enterprise Education, vol. 36(Fall 2021), pages 49-66.
    15. Alonso, Borja & Barreda, Rosa & dell’Olio, Luigi & Ibeas, Angel, 2018. "Modelling user perception of taxi service quality," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 157-164.

    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. Shen, Qing & Chen, Peng & Pan, Haixiao, 2016. "Factors affecting car ownership and mode choice in rail transit-supported suburbs of a large Chinese city," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 31-44.
    2. Beaudoin, Justin & Lin Lawell, C.-Y. Cynthia, 2018. "The effects of public transit supply on the demand for automobile travel," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 447-467.
    3. Michael L. Anderson, 2014. "Subways, Strikes, and Slowdowns: The Impacts of Public Transit on Traffic Congestion," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(9), pages 2763-2796, September.
    4. Siman Tang & Hong Lo, 2010. "On the financial viability of mass transit development: the case of Hong Kong," Transportation, Springer, vol. 37(2), pages 299-316, March.
    5. Ian W. H. Parry & Kenneth A. Small, 2009. "Should Urban Transit Subsidies Be Reduced?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(3), pages 700-724, June.
    6. Deyas, Gebeyew T. & Woldeamanuel, Mintesnot G., 2020. "Social and economic impacts of public transportation on adjacent communities: The case of the Addis Ababa light rail transit," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    7. De Bruijn, Hans & Veeneman, Wijnand, 2009. "Decision-making for light rail," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 43(4), pages 349-359, May.
    8. Arthur Grimes & Chris Young, 2010. "Anticipatory Effects of Rail Upgrades: Auckland’s Western Line," Working Papers 10_11, Motu Economic and Public Policy Research.
    9. Stefano Cellini & Francisco Nobre, 2023. "Business Improvement Districts and Housing Markets: Evidence from Neighborhoods in London," School of Economics Discussion Papers 0523, School of Economics, University of Surrey.
    10. Heilmann, Kilian, 2018. "Transit access and neighborhood segregation. Evidence from the Dallas light rail system," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 237-250.
    11. Joseph DeSalvo & Sisinnio Concas, 2013. "The Effect of Density and Trip-Chaining on the Interaction between Urban Form and Transit Demand," Working Papers 0413, University of South Florida, Department of Economics.
    12. Luca D’Acci, 2014. "Monetary, Subjective and Quantitative Approaches to Assess Urban Quality of Life and Pleasantness in Cities (Hedonic Price, Willingness-to-Pay, Positional Value, Life Satisfaction, Isobenefit Lines)," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 115(2), pages 531-559, January.
    13. Teulings, Coen N. & Ossokina, Ioulia V. & de Groot, Henri L.F., 2018. "Land use, worker heterogeneity and welfare benefits of public goods," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 67-82.
    14. Teulings, Coen & Ossokina, Ioulia V. & de Groot, Henri L.F., 2014. "Welfare Benefits of Agglomeration and Worker Heterogeneity," IZA Discussion Papers 8382, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    15. Qianyao Li & Junwu Wang & Judith Callanan & Binbin Lu & Zeng Guo, 2021. "The spatial varying relationship between services of the train network and residential property values in Melbourne, Australia," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 58(2), pages 335-354, February.
    16. Martin W Adler & Federica Liberini & Antonio Russo & Jos N. van Ommeren, 2021. "The congestion relief benefit of public transit: evidence from Rome," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 21(3), pages 397-431.
    17. Helen XH Bao & Johan P Larsson & Vivien Wong, 2021. "Light at the end of the tunnel:The impacts of expected major transport improvements on residential property prices," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 58(14), pages 2971-2990, November.
    18. Clifford Winston, 2013. "On the Performance of the U.S. Transportation System: Caution Ahead," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 51(3), pages 773-824, September.
    19. Sun, Jun & Chen, Tian & Cheng, Zuchen & Wang, Cynthia C. & Ning, Xin, 2017. "A financing mode of Urban Rail transit based on land value capture: A case study in Wuhan City," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 59-67.
    20. Dubé, Jean & Rosiers, François Des & Thériault, Marius & Dib, Patricia, 2011. "Economic impact of a supply change in mass transit in urban areas: A Canadian example," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 45(1), pages 46-62, January.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    rail transit; transportation; economists;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • R4 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Transportation Economics
    • D73 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Bureaucracy; Administrative Processes in Public Organizations; Corruption
    • B0 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - General

    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:ejw:journl:v:3:y:2006:i:3:p:551-602. 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: Jason Briggeman (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/edgmuus.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.