IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jecomi/v13y2025i3p65-d1603336.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Assessment of Socio-Economic Impacts of Hyperloop Technology on European Trade Routes

Author

Listed:
  • Aleksejs Vesjolijs

    (Transport and Telecommunication Institute, Accenture, 1 Grand Canal Square, D02 P820 Dublin, Ireland)

  • Yulia Stukalina

    (Transport and Telecommunication Institute, Accenture, 1 Grand Canal Square, D02 P820 Dublin, Ireland)

  • Olga Zervina

    (Transport and Telecommunication Institute, 2 Lauvas street, LV-1019 Riga, Latvia)

Abstract

This study investigates the possible socio-economic impacts of Hyperloop technology on establishing and reshaping EU trade routes. Hyperloop—a novel ultra-high-speed transportation system—demonstrates the capability to achieve supersonic speeds to move cargo and passengers. Delivering goods in a faster and sustainable way could change the existing trade routes and offer new opportunities for the development of international trade. This research focuses on assessing how Hyperloop may influence existing EU trade routes by improving delivery times and reducing energy usage/carbon emissions (these terms will be used interchangeably throughout the paper where both reducing long-terms costs and meeting climate goals are equally impacted by this technology). Further objectives include evaluating potential new trade routes that could emerge due to Hyperloop’s capabilities. In this paper, twelve different scenarios are constructed and compared; these scenarios contain the description of current EU trade routes that could be influenced by Hyperloop and those that could be introduced given the improved delivery times and sustainable business opportunities. The gravity model is proposed and an equation is estimated using the PPML (Poisson Pseudo Maximum Likelihood) method based on Eurostat and IMF open data. Based on the research results, different socio-economic outcomes for different layers of EU trade, including negative and positive impacts, are identified. The findings suggest that deploying Hyperloop technology would result in a 15% increase in exports and a 10% increase in imports for European trade. Both positive and negative socio-economic impacts are identified, highlighting the complexities of adopting such a disruptive technology. The research results could be used in the process of decision-making for estimating risks and performing economic analysis on various aspects of the EU trade policy. The study results could also guide EU decision-makers in assessing the main impacts of Hyperloop technology on the transportation industry, on the environment, and on society, in the context of further developing EU trade routes.

Suggested Citation

  • Aleksejs Vesjolijs & Yulia Stukalina & Olga Zervina, 2025. "Assessment of Socio-Economic Impacts of Hyperloop Technology on European Trade Routes," Economies, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-21, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jecomi:v:13:y:2025:i:3:p:65-:d:1603336
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7099/13/3/65/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7099/13/3/65/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. James E. Anderson & Eric van Wincoop, 2003. "Gravity with Gravitas: A Solution to the Border Puzzle," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(1), pages 170-192, March.
    2. Frensch, Richard & Fidrmuc, Jarko & Rindler, Michael, 2023. "Topography, borders, and trade across Europe," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(3), pages 816-832.
    3. Latifi, Albina & Naboka-Krell, Viktoriia & Tillmann, Peter & Winker, Peter, 2024. "Fiscal policy in the Bundestag: Textual analysis and macroeconomic effects," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    4. Yu, Yu & Ma, Daipeng & Zhu, Weiwei, 2023. "Resilience assessment of international cobalt trade network," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    5. Tan, Zhijia & Shao, Shuai & Zhang, Di & Shang, Wen-Long & Ochieng, Washington & Han, Yi, 2024. "Decarbonizing the inland container fleet with carbon cap-and-trade scheme," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 376(PB).
    6. Werner, Max & Eißing, Klaus & Langton, Sebastian, 2016. "Shared Value Potential of Transporting Cargo via Hyperloop," Working Paper 166/2016, Helmut Schmidt University, Hamburg.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Rodolfo G. Campos & Benedikt Heid & Jacopo Timini, 2024. "The economic consequences of geopolitical fragmentation: Evidence from the Cold War," Papers 2404.03508, arXiv.org.
    2. Anthony Briant & Pierre-Philippe Combes & Miren Lafourcade, 2014. "Product Complexity, Quality of Institutions and the Protrade Effect of Immigrants," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(1), pages 63-85, January.
    3. Oh, Chang Hoon & Travis Selmier, W. & Lien, Donald, 2011. "International trade, foreign direct investment, and transaction costs in languages," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 40(6), pages 732-735.
    4. Edmond Noubissi & Boker Poumie & Hilaire Nkengfack, 2021. "Effect of environmental policies on exports from sub‐Saharan African countries," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 33(4), pages 688-702, December.
    5. Beestermöller, Matthias, 2017. "Striking Evidence? Demand Persistence for Inter-City Buses from German Railway Strikes," Discussion Papers in Economics 31768, University of Munich, Department of Economics.
    6. Luis Marcelo Florensa & Laura M uez-Ramos & Inmaculada Mart󹑺-Zarzoso & Mar𨁌uisa Recalde, 2015. "Regional versus global production networks: where does Latin America stand?," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(37), pages 3938-3956, August.
    7. Iván Fernández-Val & Martin Weidner, 2018. "Fixed Effects Estimation of Large-TPanel Data Models," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 10(1), pages 109-138, August.
    8. Marc Flandreau & Mathilde Maurel, 2005. "Monetary Union, Trade Integration, and Business Cycles in 19th Century Europe," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 16(2), pages 135-152, April.
    9. Hildegunn K. Nordås & Dorothée Rouzet, 2017. "The Impact of Services Trade Restrictiveness on Trade Flows," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(6), pages 1155-1183, June.
    10. Fetzer, James J. & Rivera, Sandra A., 2005. "Modeling Modifications in Rules of Origin: A Partial Equilibrium Approach," Conference papers 331372, Purdue University, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Global Trade Analysis Project.
    11. Kohn, David & Leibovici, Fernando & Szkup, Michal, 2020. "Financial frictions and export dynamics in large devaluations," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 122(C).
    12. Bouët, Antoine & Elbehri, Aziz & Nguyen, Duc Bao & Traoré, Fousseini, 2022. "Measuring Agricultural Trade Integration in Southeast Asia," Journal of Economic Integration, Center for Economic Integration, Sejong University, vol. 37(2), pages 235-266.
    13. Thorvaldur Gylfason & Inmaculada Martínez-Zarzoso & Per Magnus Wijkman, 2015. "Free Trade Agreements, Institutions and the Exports of Eastern Partnership Countries," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(6), pages 1214-1229, November.
    14. David Law & Murat Genç & John Bryant, 2013. "Trade, Diaspora and Migration to New Zealand," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(5), pages 582-606, May.
    15. Ariu, Andrea & Breinlich, Holger & Corcos, Gregory & Mion, Giordano, 2019. "The interconnections between services and goods trade at the firm-level," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 173-188.
    16. Njike, Arnold, 2020. "Trade in value-added and the welfare gains of international fragmentation," MPRA Paper 100427, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Markus Brueckner & Ngo Van Long & Joaquin L. Vespignani, 2020. "Non-Gravity Trade," Globalization Institute Working Papers 388, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.
    18. Alexander, D.W. & Merkert, R., 2021. "Applications of gravity models to evaluate and forecast US international air freight markets post-GFC," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 52-62.
    19. Hylke Vandenbussche & William Connell & Wouter Simons, 2022. "Global value chains, trade shocks and jobs: An application to Brexit," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(8), pages 2338-2369, August.
    20. Frensch, Richard & Fidrmuc, Jarko & Rindler, Michael, 2023. "Topography, borders, and trade across Europe," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(3), pages 816-832.

    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:gam:jecomi:v:13:y:2025:i:3:p:65-:d:1603336. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.