Transport Economics Research Articles

Exploring gaps in residential and parking location choice models for autonomous vehicles: a proposed evaluation framework

ABSTRACT The advent of autonomous vehicles (AVs) is poised to transform urban landscapes, notably by altering perceptions of travel time value, reshaping parking structures, and introducing additional travel demand through empty-cruising and self-parking capabilities. These changes are anticipated to influence both residential and parking location choices. This study delves into the complexities of these decisions by integrating insights from 28 modelling studies on residential and/or parking location choices in the context of AVs and by proposing an evaluation framework for future modelling efforts. A critical gap identified is the oversight of empty-cruising and parking costs in the context of residential relocation choice for owners of privately-owned AVs. Furthermore, no study has adopted a joint-choice modelling approach for residential and parking location choices. By offering guidelines for the incorporation of these elements, this study contributes to the development of a holistic residential and parking location choice model with AVs, thus providing a valuable roadmap for future research in urban planning and transportation economics.

Construction of Transportation Economics Course Incorporating Carbon Reduction Concept

The impact of carbon emissions on the environment is becoming increasingly severe. The transportation industry is an important pillar of the national economy and also generates a large amount of carbon emissions. Therefore, it is necessary to provide education on energy conservation and emission reduction to future transportation practitioners in higher education. This article takes "Transportation Economics" as an example to analyze the new approach of curriculum construction based on the concept of carbon reduction in the core courses of transportation majors, and introduces the innovative teaching methods and content of the "Transportation Economics" course based on the concept of carbon reduction.

Reconstructing and assessing global maritime transport network: based on the Port Cargo Composite Transport index

ABSTRACT Solution to the problem of limited explanatory power of transport economics due to the homogenisation of existing the Global Maritime Transport Network (GMTN) construction indicators. By integrating the Port Cargo Composite Transport (PCCT) index and considering the volume-value mismatch relationship and the type and flow of cargo transported in ports, the GMTN can be reconstructed through a bottom-up logic. Combining the complex network, natural breaks, and point mutual information method with the Leiden and PageRank algorithm, the characteristics of the GMTN were derived from three aspects, i.e. network topology, node characteristics, and inter-node dependency. The GMTN presents the characteristics as follows. Community division presents typical geographical aggregation and industrial complementarity. Node characteristics show the classic phenomenon of rich people’s clubs, with obvious heavy-tailed distribution. Maritime transport linkage preferences present a phenomenon of geographical proximity, and their expansion can clarify the direction of the main links. Enhancing their maritime links will be more targeted to support the transport of trade cargoes. These findings help us to understand the characteristics of the international maritime trade pattern, and provide decision references for industry stakeholders to provide a strategic layout of maritime transport.

Strategic flood impact mitigation in developing countries’ urban road networks: Application to Hanoi

Due to climate change, the frequency and scale of flood events worldwide are increasing dramatically. Flood impacts are especially acute in developing countries, where they often revert years of progress in sustainable development and poverty reduction. This paper introduces an optimization-based decision support tool for selecting cost-efficient flood mitigation investments in developing countries’ urban areas. The core of the tool is a scenario-based, multi-period, bi-objective Mixed Integer Linear Programming model which minimizes infrastructure damage and traffic congestion in urban road networks. The tool was developed in collaboration with Vietnamese stakeholders (e.g., local communities and government authorities), and integrates data and inputs from other disciplines, including social science, transport economics, climatology and hydrology. A metaheuristic, combining a Greedy Randomized Adaptive Search Procedure with a Variable Neighborhood Descent algorithm, is developed to solve large scale problem instances. An extensive computational campaign on randomly generated instances demonstrates the efficiency of the metaheuristic in solving realistic problems with hundreds of interdependent flood mitigation interventions. Finally, the applicability of the interdisciplinary approach is demonstrated on a real case study to generate a 20-year plan of mitigation investments for the urban area of Hanoi. Policy implications and impacts of the study are also discussed.

A visit generation process for human mobility random graphs with location-specific latent-variables: From land use to travel demand

This research introduces a novel mathematical framework for understanding collective human mobility patterns, integrating mathematical modeling and data analysis. It focuses on latent-variable networks to investigate the dynamics of human mobility using stochastic models. By analyzing origin–destination data, the study uncovers scaling relations and explores the economic implications of mobility patterns, particularly regarding the income elasticity of travel demand. The mathematical analysis begins with the development of a stochastic model based on inhomogeneous random graphs, constructing a visitation model with multipurpose drivers for travel demand. Through this model, the study gains insights into the structural properties and dynamic correlations of human mobility networks, deriving analytical solutions for key network metrics: visit distribution, assortativity behavior and clustering coefficient. Empirically, the study validates the model’s assumptions and reveals scaling behaviors in origin–destination flows within a region, reproducing statistical regularities observed in real-world cases. Notably, the model’s application to estimating income elasticity of travel demand provides significant implications for urban and transport economics. Overall, this research contributes to a deeper understanding of the interplay between human mobility and regional demographics and economics. It sheds light on critical scaling relations across various aspects of collective human mobility and underscores the importance of incorporating latent-variable structures into mobility modeling for accurate economic analysis and decision-making in urban and transportation planning.

Fuzzy Rule Based System of Optimal Pavement Maintenance and Rehabilitation Strategies for Yangon-Mandalay Expressway

Purpose: Systematic pavement management plays a vital role in the better Road Asset Management system. The lifespan of pavement can be preserved and prolonged by adequate maintenance measures in proper time. By early detection and repair of defects at initial stages with predictive maintenance reduces the rapid deterioration of the pavement. Moreover, inaccuracy in pavement deterioration prediction leads to an improper maintenance with wastage of time, cost and labor strength. To overcome all of these obstacles, this paper attempts an approach on optimal pavement maintenance strategy by means of fuzzy rule-based system. Materials and Methods: In this research, four pavement indicators of PCI, IRI, PSR and PSI have been taken into account as antecedents and five different types of pavement maintenance as consequents. In this research, ASTM D-6433, Road Lab Pro software, AASHTO guidelines and Fuzzy Logic (Mamdani) model have been used to evaluate the current pavement condition and optimal pavement maintenance strategies. Findings: According to research area, 130 total pavement sample units were undertaken to study for the mean pavement condition of PCI value 54.93 (poor), IRI 7.01 (fair), PSR 3.33 (fair) and PSI 3.35 (fair). Due to 13 years-old life span of traffic volume, temperature and other external factors, this expressway is suffering from potholes, bleeding, longitudinal and transverse cracking, weathering, joint reflection cracking for Asphalt Concrete (AC) overlay and linear cracking, joint seal failure, scaling, faulting, depression, lane/shoulder drop off for existing concrete pavement. According to the fuzzy logic model results, 42 numbers of fuzzy If-Then maintenance rules were verified as the most relevant pavement maintenance and rehabilitation strategies for Yangon-Mandalay Expressway. Implications to Theory, Practice and Policy: This research provide implications to the study and contributions to theory, practice and policy. This research paper insights into effective infrastructure maintenance and investment, emphasizing the role of advanced computational techniques in transportation economics. The key advantage of this research paper is to be effective, supportive, easy and accessible decision-making tool for transportation and pavement engineers, expressway planners and highways department authorities especially from developing countries.

Editorial

The Journal Scientific Research World Economy EconConnections - Professionals On Line, plays an essential role as the main platform for the dissemination of theoretical and empirical research in a wide range of disciplines within the field of economics and related areas. Enveloping a wide range of topics, it stands as the primary channel for the exploration of general economic theory, political economy, business economics, industrial economics, labor economics, urban and rural economics, development economics, technological economics, tourism economics, transportation economics, macroeconomics, microeconomics, quantitative economics, resources and environmental economics, economic history and demography, as well as international trade, exchange rates, finance , accounting and insurance.

Exploring the Application of Blockchain Technology in Logistics and Transportation System

This paper explores the application of blockchain technology in improving the management and efficiency of logistics and transportation systems. By leveraging blockchain technology, real-time recording, traceability, data sharing, security, and trustworthiness of logistics information can be achieved, thereby enhancing the efficiency and safety of logistics operations. The paper discusses the theoretical foundations of blockchain technology and logistics and transportation systems, highlighting key concepts such as decentralization, distributed ledger, consensus mechanisms, smart contracts, operations research, supply chain management, and transportation economics. Additionally, the literature review presents an overview of existing studies on logistics and transport systems and blockchain technology, illustrating various applications and benefits, such as sustainable transport frameworks, transportation and logistics management models, smart logistics systems, and supply chain traceability platforms. In conclusion, the exploration of blockchain technology's application in logistics and transportation systems offers comprehensive support for improving logistics efficiency, reliability, and safety, promising more efficient and reliable transportation services for the logistics industry in the future.

Graph Neural Networks Model to Generate Transportation Test Networks

Transportation researchers often rely on test networks to evaluate the performance of traffic assignment algorithms, analyze resilience and criticality, study emission productions, investigate transportation economics, and address various other challenges. Existing test networks have limited diversity and might not fully represent the topological features of real-world transportation networks. To address this issue, we proposed a novel approach that leverages real-life road networks extracted from OpenStreetMap to generate synthetic test networks with desired topological properties. We developed a graph neural network model that learns from the extracted networks’ topological patterns and predicts binary adjacency matrices for the generated networks. The proposed model creates synthetic networks resembling real-life networks, demonstrating its effectiveness in generating realistic test networks. The resulting synthetic networks offer a diverse and comprehensive set of test networks for various transportation studies, enabling improved simulations, analyses, and decision making for transportation researchers and practitioners. We have made our source code publicly available for collaboration and further enhancements in the transportation domain.

Introducing a Novel Framework for the Analysis and Assessment of Transport Projects in City Regions

A profound appraisal framework has been developed and refined in transport economics and planning literature for decades, mainly characterised by welfare economic theory, cost–benefit analysis, and transport demand modelling. In summary, the appraisal methodology and its applications have concentrated on single infrastructure measures, marginal impacts identified through ceteris paribus comparisons, forecasts based on trends from the past, and monetary assessments of all quantifiable impacts. However, this framework has been continuously contested in transport planning literature, for instance, for its focus on travel demand and short-term travel time savings. Therefore, we suggest a novel approach for planning and assessing transport schemes in city regions, combining accessibility analyses, quantitative target indicators, and cost-effectiveness analysis. We develop and test this approach by assessing a proposed underground rail project in the Munich city region, the U5 southeast extension. In this case, we define an accessibility target level and estimate the potential for push measures along with the U5 project. We find modest impacts on quantitative targets in the Munich city region: Even when the U5 southeast extension is bundled with push measures in selected transport cells, the contribution to passenger transport-related carbon dioxide emission targets and primary energy consumption targets is low. Nevertheless, we demonstrate that the proposed assessment framework can support strategic transport planning in city regions. We argue for a change in perspective towards supply-side-oriented urban transport planning. Our proposed methodology is a first step in a different direction towards a sustainable mobility planning paradigm.

EE299 The Absence of Risk Preferences in Health Economics – What Can We Learn From Transport Economics?

EE299 The Absence of Risk Preferences in Health Economics – What Can We Learn From Transport Economics?

Is work hours' flexibility really a solution to morning peak period congestion? Comparative analysis between Paris and San Francisco

According to transport economics theory, the effect of flexible hours should be that workers spread out their starting times with the result that rush-hour travel conditions improve. But is this really what happens regardless of territorial contexts and transport systems? Paris and San Francisco region are facing serious congestion and are also the French and American cities with their countries' largest share of workers with flexible hours. In those contexts, do employees with the possibility of flexible working hours in fact avoid peak-time travel? Drawing on an international literature review and data from the national household travel surveys for the Paris region and the Metropolitan Area of San Francisco, we reveal new findings that may even appear paradoxical. Far from leading to staggered workplace arrival times, in Paris, flexible hours are associated with a significantly higher probability of arrival at work during the morning peak period. In San Francisco, flexibility has no significant impact on peak period. In an era of flexible schedules, our research tempers the idea of any systematic impact of flexibilisation oriented toward desynchronisation. It reveals that the impact of flexible hours depends on territorial dynamics, where the “social distribution of flexibility” plays an important role.

Effects of regional accessibility on productivity: An analysis based on composite indicators

The relationship between transport infrastructure and accessibility has long stood as a central research area in regional and transport economics. Often invoked by governments to justify large public spending on infrastructure, the study of this relationship has led to conflicting arguments on the role that transport plays in productivity. This paper expands the existing body of knowledge by adopting a spatial analysis (with spillover effects) that considers the physical effects of investment in terms of accessibility (using distinct metrics). The authors have used the Portuguese experience at regional level over the last 30 years as a case study. The main conclusions are as follows: i) the choice of transport variables matters when explaining productivity, and more complex accessibility indicators are more correlated with; ii) it is important to account for spill-over effects; and iii) the evidence of granger causality is not widespread but depends on the regions.

Do choice tasks and rating scales elicit the same judgments?

Discrete choice (DCE) and rating scale experiments (RSE) are commonly applied procedures for eliciting preference judgments in a plethora of applied settings such as consumer choices, health care, and transport economics. An almost universal assumption is that actual “ground truth” preferences do not depend on which elicitation procedure is used. It is usually not possible to test this assumption, because typical studies feature response options for which there is no objectively correct response. To make progress on testing this assumption, we conducted a perceptual discrimination experiment where response options varied on a single attribute – stimulus saturation level – with a known objectively correct response. We had the same participants complete both a choice task (CT) and rating scale (RS) version of the experiment, allowing a direct examination of the assumption of a common representation. Our CT featured many characteristics that define a DCE, however, in order to have a known objectively correct response, it also differed in a few important ways. To test the assumption of a common representation, we developed a cognitive model with a response mechanism for both CT and RS. This enabled us to compare a model version that featured one shared latent stimulus representation across CT and RS versus a version which featured separate representations. Our results support the assumption that a single internal state supports both CT and RS responses, and also suggest that the CT method might provide more sensitive measurement of internal states than the RS method.

International Transportation Projects and Türkiye from the Perspective of Transportation Economics

Today, the transportation industry is a service with global implications, one that must be assessed from a social, economic, and social perspective, and one that has a significant impact on national economies. The study, which focuses on these issues in-depth, offers a conceptual overview of transportation economics systems policies and strategies. It analyzes the economic impacts of international transportation projects on Türkiye and the broader region, using a transportation economics framework. The study could also aim to evaluate Türkiye's transportation policies and strategies and their potential to promote sustainable economic growth and development. It also adds to the literature by analyzing the impacts of similar projects like the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars Railway Project, the Belt and Road Project, the Black Sea Grain Initiative, the TÜRKSAT Communication Satellite Projects, and smart transportation on the potential overall national economy.

Deep learning in economics: a systematic and critical review.

From the perspective of historical review, the methodology of economics develops from qualitative to quantitative, from a small sampling of data to a vast amount of data. Because of the superiority in learning inherent law and representative level, deep learning models assist in realizing intelligent decision-making in economics. After presenting some statistical results of relevant researches, this paper systematically investigates deep learning in economics, including a survey of frequently-used deep learning models in economics, several applications of deep learning models used in economics. Then, some critical reviews of deep learning in economics are provided, including models and applications, why and how to implement deep learning in economics, research gap and future challenges, respectively. It is obvious that several deep learning models and their variants have been widely applied in different subfields of economics, e.g., financial economics, macroeconomics and monetary economics, agricultural and natural resource economics, industrial organization, urban, rural, regional, real estate and transportation economics, health, education and welfare, business administration and microeconomics, etc. We are very confident that decision-making in economics will be more intelligent with the development of deep learning, because the research of deep learning in economics has become a hot and important topic recently.

Crowding externalities and optimal subsidies in public transport: Revisiting the Parry–Small model

Subsidising public transport is a widely used policy, normally justified by redistributional objectives. Frequent use of subsidies, however, does not mean uniformity, as the actual subsidy rate varies between countries and cities. Excessive subsidisation of public transport can also be criticised by the presence of externalities, most importantly on-board crowding. This paper revisits Parry & Small (2009), one of the most influential contributions in the recent history of public transport economics. Despite the popularity of the Parry–Small model, it neglects existing empirical evidence on the effects of crowding on passengers’ wellbeing. The purpose of the present study is to redesign and recalibrate their model by expressing crowding disutility as a multiplier of the value of in-vehicle travel time, and also to extend the analysis to the context of the Hungarian interurban transport system. Our results show that the crowding externality is a critical component of optimal pricing, as it decreases the optimal subsidy rate by 4 to 29%, even at a moderate level of capacity utilisation. This means that optimal fares are higher than they were previously found. We extend the original analysis to the case of Hungarian interurban transport and highlight the model’s sensitivity to the assumed substitution pattern.

Editorial

The Journal Scientific Research World Economy EconConnections - Professionals On Line, plays an essential role as the main platform for the dissemination of theoretical and empirical research in a wide range of disciplines within the field of economics and related areas. Enveloping a wide range of topics, it stands as the primary channel for the exploration of general economic theory, political economy, business economics, industrial economics, labor economics, urban and rural economics, development economics, technological economics, tourism economics, transportation economics, macroeconomics, microeconomics, quantitative economics, resources and environmental economics, economic history and demography, as well as international trade, exchange rates, finance , accounting and insurance.

Legal Regulation of a Market Transport Economics as a Legal Discipline

The article is a review of the textbook «Legal regulation of the market economics (on the example of the transport industry)» for students of transport universities studying in master’s programs, prepared by the team of the Department of Transport Law of the Law Institute of Russian University of Transport under the general editorship of the Honoured Scientist of the Russian Federation, D.Sc. (Law), professor A. I. Zemlin. The author notes not only the relevance of topics in the content of the textbook, but also multidimensionality of their coverage: from theoretical aspects to the practices of their implementation. The depth of the scientific approach, demonstrated by the authors, ensures a complete and comprehensive assimilation of the material, ensuring practical significance and potential relevance of the textbook. The authors managed to determine the optimal amount of sufficiency of didactic material in the textbook for formation of legal competencies among highly qualified specialists in the field of transport, as well as employees of public agencies and corporate governance bodies, necessary for successful performance of their duties in the market economy.

The competitive strategy profile of Ukrainian inland water transport: economic justification

Purpose. The work aims to build a profile of the competitive strategy of inland water transport of Ukraine and its economic justification. Methodology. The theoretical and methodological basis of the study was the fundamental scientific principles of general economic theory and transport economics, works by domestic and foreign scientists in the field of competitive strategies, economic justification of competitive strategy profiles, and sustainable economic development. We used methods such as “SNW”, “SPACE”, and “ADL” to solve the tasks of our research. The information base of the study consists of: collected, processed, and summarized primary materials of economic research, official statistics, monographs, and scientific and analytical articles of domestic and foreign authors. Findings. The work determines the economic essence of the competitive strategy profile. The profile of the Ukrainian inland water transport competitive strategy was constructed. The profile by the method of “SNW” was analyzed and economically justified by the “SPACE” and “ADL” methods. In the context of European integration, a system of strategic recommendations for the Ukrainian inland water transport competitive strategy formation was proposed. Originality. In this work, the methodological approach to building a profile of competitive strategy of inland water transport of Ukraine was further developed, which, in contrast to existing methods, includes critical elements of competitive potential, such as natural resource, production, labor, institutional, innovation and investment ones. This allows a comprehensive assessment of the results of economic threats and dangers in its use. The proposed system of recommendations for forming a competitive strategy, which will allow positioning Ukraine’s inland water transport in the European market of transport services in terms of European integration. Practical value. The presented results of the study can be used to improve the management system of Ukrainian inland waterway transport, in particular, in the part of selecting the most appropriate models of financing costs for the implementation of competitive strategies of water transport in Ukraine in the conditions of structural changes in the macro-environment in the context of overcoming the consequences of military aggression in the period of post-war recovery of Ukraine.