Transport Infrastructure Investment Research Articles

China’s Pollution-Intensive Industry Transfer Path and Driving Factors—An Empirical Study Based on Spatial Panel Model

In this paper, global spatial autocorrelation analysis and spatial Durbin model regression analysis of spatial panel data from 30 regions in China from 2002 to 2014 are carried out to explore the diversion path and driving factors of China’s pollution-intensive industries from the perspective of spatial correlation. The results show that the spatial distribution of regional pollution intensive industry in China has significantly spatial dependence. The pollution-intensive industries in various regions continue to carry out spatial dynamic transitions, roll-in and roll-out, and the central and western regions undertake the pollution intensive enterprises which transferred from the eastern coastal areas. In terms of driving factors of pollution intensive industries transfer, agglomeration, transportation infrastructure, technological progress and capital investment, which have played a positive role in promoting, labor costs have a negative effect. Environmental regulation of pollution intensive industry transfer has a dual role, namely “crowding out” and “innovation effect”. It is recommended that pollution-intensive enterprises should have scientific planning and follow the correct transfer path.

Does The Decision Rule Matter For Large-Scale Transport Models?

Abstract: This paper is the first to study to what extent decision rules, embedded in disaggregate discrete choice models, matter for large-scale aggregate level mobility forecasts. Such large-scale forecasts are a crucial underpinning for many transport infrastructure investment decisions. We show, in the particular context of (linear-additive) utility maximization (RUM) and regret minimization (RRM) rules, that the decision rule matters for aggregate level mobility forecasts. We find non-trivial differences between the RUM-based and RRM-based transport model in terms of aggregate forecasts of passenger kilometers, demand elasticities, and monetary benefits of transport policies. This opens up new opportunities for policy analysts to enrich their sensitivity analysis toolbox.

Public Infrastructure and Regional growth: Evidence from Turkey

The aim of this study is to examine the effects of public transportation infrastructure investments on regional economic growth in Turkish NUTS 2 regions between 2004 and 2011. To offer an advanced statistical analysis, we employ an augmented production function model for measuring the effects of different types of transportation infrastructure on regional output. We use specifically ordinary least squares (OLS), fixed effects, two-stage least squares (2SLS) and Hausman-Taylor IV estimation methods with both cross-section and panel data. Our results show that road and motorway infrastructure have strongly significant positive effects on regional output in all our estimations. Land infrastructure is found to play a very important role in regional economic performance in Turkey, while, somewhat surprisingly, air infrastructure has no significant impact on regional GVA, which clearly suggests the existence of different types of transportation infrastructure in the Turkish regions. Also, the high growth elasticity of land infrastructure in the Turkish regions indicates that Turkey is currently still suffering from an inadequate transport infrastructure.

Multimodal transportation infrastructure investment and regional economic development: A structural equation modeling empirical analysis in China from 1986 to 2011

It is often hypothesized that transportation infrastructure investment have a positive impact on economic growth and that economic growth also imposes needs for further infrastructure development. This paper proposes a structural equation model (SEM) to comprehensively consider the bi-directional relationship between multimodal transportation investment and economic development. To account for the complicated interactions between transportation investment and economic growth, travel demand is added as an endogenous variable in the model system. In addition, the SEM model system is formulated with variables that reflect transportation supply in geographically adjacent areas to investigate spatial spillover effects. Empirical analysis based on a panel dataset at the reginal level in China from 1986 to 2011 is conducted. Results show transportation investment in the current region or other regions have impacts on economic growth, but are obviously different at national level and provincial level. These differences can be associated with phases of economic development, transportation investment policy, transportation infrastructure service level, spillovers from other regions, as well as reform policies carried out by the central government.

The Northern Powerhouse: a commentary

ABSTRACTThe Northern Powerhouse: a commentary. Regional Studies. The Northern Powerhouse is a programme intended to improve the economic position of the North of England, primarily by means of a large-scale investment in transport infrastructure. Consideration is given to various definitions of the Northern Powerhouse area and to the structure of its cities. Attention is directed to some of the underlying economic difficulties of the area. The cornerstone of the programme, which involves the renovation and extension of different modes of transport, is considered from various perspectives. Finally, the discussion focuses on the implementation of the programme and on issues that need to be taken into account.

Quantitative Spatial Economics

The observed uneven distribution of economic activity across space is influenced by variation in exogenous geographical characteristics and endogenous interactions between agents in goods and factor markets. Until the past decade, the theoretical literature on economic geography had focused on stylized settings that could not easily be taken to the data. This article reviews more recent research that has developed quantitative models of economic geography. These models are rich enough to speak to first-order features of the data, such as many heterogeneous locations and gravity equation relationships for trade and commuting. At the same time, these models are sufficiently tractable to undertake realistic counterfactual exercises to study the effect of changes in amenities, productivity, and public policy interventions such as transport infrastructure investments. We provide an extensive taxonomy of the different building blocks of these quantitative spatial models and discuss their main properties and quantification.

Transportation infrastructure and rural development in China

Purpose The infrastructure investment is one important source of economic growth in China in the past three decades. However it is not clear to what extent such investment affects development in rural area. The purpose of this paper is to explore this impact both conceptually and quantitatively, and draw policy implications from the empirical exercise. Design/methodology/approach The authors first describe the conceptual link between the transportation infrastructure and rural development, which motivates the empirical model. Then by utilizing an autoregressive distributed lag model, the authors estimate both the short- and long-run impacts of the transportation infrastructure on rural development, in terms of cereal yield and per capita net income of rural households. Findings The authors find that investment in transportation infrastructure positively affects rural development in China. In terms of cereal yield, a 1 percent increase in the road infrastructure (road length) leads to around 0.05 percent increase in cereal yield in the short-, and around 0.19 percent increase in the long-run. In terms of the per capita net income of rural households, a 1 percent increase in the road infrastructure results in around 0.14 percent increase in the short-, and its long-run impact is not statistically significant. The positive impacts lend supports to promote investment in the transportation infrastructure. To this end, in addition to the government funding, the participation of private capital can also be promoted through a number of channels, such as the build-operate-transfer, public-private partnership, and establishment of infrastructure investment bank. Originality/value This study evaluates the impacts of transportation infrastructure on rural development in China. Despite of the importance of infrastructure and rural development, there is a lack of study on the interaction between them. This paper intends to fill in this gap. In addition, implications drawn in this exercise can benefit policy makers not only in China, but also in other developing countries.

Modeling the Transport Infrastructure-Growth Nexus in the United States

The rising government funding in transport infrastructure has sparked political and academic debates on the economic impacts of transport infrastructure investment in the United States. Although numerous empirical studies have examined the transport infrastructure-growth nexus, existing literature has mixed conclusions of the economic effects of expanding transport infrastructure. The main objective of this paper is to assess the short- and long-run impacts of transport and non-transport public infrastructure on economic growth to provide an implication of the effectiveness of these fiscal policy tools in the short- and long-term. For this purpose, we employ a modern autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) approach to explore the dynamic relationships among transport infrastructure, non-transport public infrastructure, private capital, labor hours, GDP, and exports. In the long run, we find that a bidirectional relationship exists between transport infrastructure and GDP, suggesting that expanding transport infrastructure improves aggregated economic output, and enhanced economic output increases public investment in transport infrastructure. However, the magnitude of the impact of transport infrastructure on GDP is smaller than that of non-transport public infrastructure, implying that non-transport infrastructure investment is a more effective long-term fiscal stimulus than expanding transport infrastructure.

Heterogeneous effects of inter- and intra-city transportation infrastructure on economic growth: Evidence from Chinese cities

This article studies the heterogeneous effects of inter- and intra-city transportation infrastructure on the growth of cities using a panel dataset comprising 219 Chinese cities over 1999–2012. According to panel FMOLS estimates, the long-term contribution of inter-city infrastructure (highways or railways) accounts for 6% of city growth, that of intra-city public transit being 2%. The core cities are found to benefit more from these infrastructures than peripheral cities. The short-run dynamic analyses using VECM reveal asymmetric bidirectional causal effects between transportation and economic growth. Notably, the impacts of transport infrastructures on economic growth are most pronounced in the west but least in central China. Eastern China benefits strongly from investments in transportation infrastructure even though such infrastructure is abundant.

Applying Input–Output Model to Estimate Broader Economic Impact of Transportation Infrastructure Investment

The purpose of this study is to identify the relationships between infrastructure improvement and economic growth in the surrounding region. Traditionally, microeconomic and macroeconomic analyses are the mostly used tools for analyzing the linkage between transportation sectors and economic growth but offer little clues to the mechanisms linking transport improvements and the broader economy impacts. This study will estimate the broader economic benefits of the new transportation infrastructure investment, Cipularangtollway in West Java province, Indonesia, to the region connected (Bandung district) using Input–Output model. The result show the decrease of freight transportation costs by at 17 % and the increase of 1.2 % of Bandung District’s GDP after the operation of Cipularangtollway.

Banking on Infrastructure: Exploring the Fiscal Impacts of State Infrastructure Bank (SIB) Loans on Leveraging State and Local Transportation Investment

State Infrastructure Banks (SIBs) are revolving transportation infrastructure investment funds that are capitalized with federal assistance funds and state‐matching funds. Despite decades of use, research on innovative infrastructure finance lags behind the practice. Little research has been conducted on examining whether SIBs achieve the goal of increasing state and local transportation investment through their awarded loans and other financing activities. To fill the void, the primary purpose of the paper is to empirically estimate the fiscal effects of SIB loans on leveraging state and local highway capital investment. Using panel data consisting of SIB loan parameters made by the seven states from 1998 to 2010, the study finds that one dollar of three‐year lagged SIB loan disbursements to state and local highway project sponsors will increase state and local highway capital expenditure in the current year by nearly three dollars. In addition, the study confirms that higher SIB loan interest rates strengthen the role of the SIB program on stimulating state and local highway capital investment.

Comment on “China's Transport Infrastructure Investment: Past, Present, and Future”

Comment on “China's Transport Infrastructure Investment: Past, Present, and Future”

China's Transport Infrastructure Investment: Past, Present, and Future

AbstractChina has been heavily investing in transportation infrastructure since the 1990s. Consequently, connectivity has been significantly improved, both within China and between China and other countries. Such large‐scale investments have been made possible by various financing mechanisms from the central government, local governments, and the private sector. Research findings generally indicate that these infrastructure investments bring economic prosperity to the country, affect the distribution of economic activities, reduce poverty to a certain extent, and promote economic integration. The future trends of connectivity changes in China and relevant policy recommendations are also discussed in this paper.

Comment on “China's Transport Infrastructure Investment: Past, Present, and Future”

Comment on “China's Transport Infrastructure Investment: Past, Present, and Future”

Fiscal Feasibility Assessment Applied to Transport Infrastructure Projects

The demand for transport infrastructure investment is a latent issue for several countries, mainly for developing countries. However, investments in major logistics projects should be carefully evaluated, in order that their deployment induces development without endangering fiscal sustainability by excessive public indebtedness. Fiscal accounting practices used currently in the feasibility studies of transport infrastructures in Brazil are very limited, as they do not consider indirect and induced effects of the infrastructure investment in the fiscal evaluation. In addition, the corresponding influence area has not an established delimitation method. The aim of the present paper is to develop a model for calculating economic and fiscal impacts of transport infrastructure investment projects that includes the direct, indirect and induced effects within a reference area do be determined. First, different project assessment guides in Brazil and abroad are examined with a special focus on the assessment of economic and fiscal impacts of the projects. Based on the assessment experience and on the definition of the fiscal balance of an infrastructure project, the next step sets up a framework for the calculation of the impacts, using more simplified data. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4995/CIT2016.2016.4116

FREIGHT RAILWAY TRANSPORT: CRITICAL VARIABLES TO IMPROVE THE TRANSPORT APPLIED TO INFRASTRUCTURE COSTS AND ITS ASSOCIATED TRAFFIC FLOW

The developed societies have as challenge, among others, to achieve a mobility development based on economic models of low carbon and energy efficient, making it accessible to the entire population. In this context, the sustainable mobility seems to meet the economic, social and environmental needs, minimizing their negative impact. There are three factors that are relevant: (1) infrastructures; (2) modes of transport more ecological and safe, and (3) operations and services for passengers and freights.The objective of this research is to provide guidance to investment in sustainable transport infrastructures that are truly useful and effective. In particular we have studied the case of the railway, using the following information: details of the infrastructure; cost of construction (per kilometre); maintenance cost, and life cycle. This information may be relevant to consider their possible business models.The methodology of this research was focused in the detailed analysis of the infrastructure use and maintenance criteria, the market opportunities for freight development and the available data to validate the obtained results from the software tool reached in this work. Our research includes the different following aspects:• Evaluation of the supported traffic by the rail line.• Relevant items to be considered in the rail infrastructure. Defining the track, we can group items in two sets: civil and rail installations.• Rolling stock available. Locomotives and wagons are modelled to introduce the data as convenience for the user.Besides our research includes the development of software, Decision System Tool (DST), for studying the construction and maintenance cost of railway infrastructure. It is developed in a common and open source program, providing the user the interaction with the critical variable of the line. It has been adjusted using the following references: MOM PlanCargorail; EcoTransIT, and Projects funded by Framework Program of EU (NewOpera, Innotrack and Sustrail). DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4995/CIT2016.2016.3553

The benefits of a high-resolution analysis of transit accessibility

ABSTRACTAccessibility is an important consideration in sustainable mobility policies, particularly for transit users. Measures suggested in the literature are based on coarse aggregate spatial resolution of traffic analysis zones that is sufficient for managing car travels only. To reflect a human door-to-door travel, transit accessibility demands an explicit view of the location of origin, transit stops and destination, as well as of the temporal fit between transit lines timetable and traveler’s needs. We thus estimate transit accessibility based on mode-specific travel times and corresponding paths, including walking and waiting, at the resolution of individual buildings and stops. Car accessibility is estimated at a high resolution too. A novel representation of transit network as a graph is proposed. This representation includes all modal components of a transit travel – walking, waiting at a stop, transit ride, transfers between lines, thus enabling unified view of a travel, regardless of mode. The use of modern high-performance graph database allows construction of high-resolution accessibility maps for an entire metropolitan area with its 100–200 K buildings. The application is tested and applied in a case study involving the evaluation of the 2011 bus line reform in the city of Tel Aviv. Specifically, we demonstrate that while the reform increased the average accessibility for the entire city the increase was not uniform with different areas of the city experiencing different absolute accessibility by transit and relative accessibility in comparison to car travel. The bus reform did in fact benefit travelers that experienced low relative accessibility, but the benefits are mainly accruing to longer trips. Our approach and computational methods can be employed for directly investigating the impacts of transportation infrastructure investments.

Influence of the A2 motorway on the economic development at local level

Abstract The aim of the paper is to analyze the selected investment in transport infrastructure in terms of its impact on the economy at the local level. The study involves ten gminas within a 60 km radius (approximately 1 hour’s traveling distance) of Poznań. Using the available statistical data set, it was determined whether the construction of the motorway had an impact on the number and the structure of enterprises located in the surveyed communities, the levels of gmina revenues, and the situation on the labour market. Performed analysis allowed reaching a positive verification of the research hypothesis, which predicts that the A2 did not have a decisive impact on the economic development of the gminas. In all of the included aspects, gminas located along the A2 were characterized by a relatively high level of economic development compared to the Wielkopolskie Voivodship and the rest of Poland. At the same time, the level of development was lower when compared with gminas within the Poznań Poviat. These results suggest that the decisive factor in shaping the level of economic development was their geographic location in relation to the nearby urban agglomeration of Poznań.

To Green or Not to Green: A Political, Economic and Social Analysis for the Past Failure of Green Logistics

The objective of green logistics has thus far failed. For example, the share of greenhouse gas emissions by the transportation and logistics sector in Europe rose from 16.6% in 1990 to 24.3% in 2012. This article analyzes the reasons behind this failure by drawing on political, economic and business as well as social motivations and examples. At the core of this analysis are the established theorems of the Jevons paradox and the median voter (Black, Downs) in combination with time-distorted preferences of voters and consumers. Adding to the hurdles of green logistics are the problems of short-term political programs and decisions versus long-term business investments in transportation and logistics. Two cases from Germany are outlined regarding this political “meddling through” with a recent 2015 truck toll decision and the support for electric trucks and vehicles. Finally, the article proposes two ways forward: public control and restriction of carbon raw materials (coal, oil), as well as public investment in low-emission transport infrastructure or biofuels as the more feasible and likely alternative.

“A handshake across the Himalayas:” Chinese investment, hydropower development, and state formation in Nepal

This article examines contemporary patterns of Chinese infrastructure development in Nepal’s Rasuwa District and the ways in which Nepali actors engage with Chinese investments to advance projects of state formation. Particularly in the wake of political volatility and natural disaster, Chinese interventions support the material and imaginative projects of a Nepalese state seeking stability, security, and economic growth. Long perceived as peripheral to the state center, Rasuwa is rapidly becoming central to Sino-Nepal relations, particularly in the context of bilateral investments in hydropower and transportation infrastructure. Drawing on data generated from 30 months of fieldwork in Nepal, we argue that Chinese development in Rasuwa: a) undergirds territorializing practices of the Nepalese state; b) represents a “gift of development” that connects Nepali ambitions of bikas (development) with Chinese anxieties over exile Tibetan populations; and c) reflects a strategic reorientation of geopolitical alliances between Nepal, China, and India. Challenging studies that depict Chinese development as an overwhelming extractive force, we instead show how small states like Nepal in fact use Chinese interventions to advance domestic projects of state formation and national security at home. On the basis of this study, we expand understandings about the place and priority of infrastructure in national state-making agendas, illustrate uneven local experiences with international development interventions, and highlight new configurations of Chinese investment and development abroad – characterized in Nepal as a “handshake across the Himalayas.”