Estimating Freight Transport Price Elasticity in Multi-mode Studies: A Review and Additional Results from a Multimodal Network Model

Abstract

The paper presents a detailed comparative review of price/cost elasticity estimates published in a number of studies on multi-mode freight transport demands. It attempts to determine which factors could explain the wide diversity of estimates: data aggregation, diversity of markets, and methodology. It also presents new estimates for rail, road, and waterway modes, derived from a multimodal freight network model of the Rhine area market. Direct and cross-elasticities are estimated for 11 groups of commodities and per distance category. The results are critically assessed by comparison with the reviewed studies. The paper concludes with a few recommendations about meaningful uses of existing estimates and the need for additional experiments with different methodologies applied on a common data basis.