TRANSPORT ECONOMICS & INNOVATION
Good knowledge of microeconomics fundamentals.
This course will provide students with a solid grounding in the economics of the
transportation sector, covering the key principles governing transportation planning, investment and regulation.
Students should obtain basic skills in the analysis of travel demand and supply and of transportation system benefits. Students should also be able to understand the different internal and external components of transport costs, the basic pricing principles, the technological innovations and how these factors affect the market for transportation infrastructure and services and, consequently, the other industries. Finally, students should be able to apply these concepts to analyse transportation investment decisions and public regulation policies.
Main course objectives:
-Understanding of the importance of transport for the economic development
-Understanding of specificities and issues related to transport industries
-Provide theoretical and methodological basis to understand issues related to mobility in the globalization process and to firm innovation strategies
-Apply economic knowledge to specific transport and mobility problem.
Introduction to transport economics: contribution of transport services and infrastructure to economic development and globalisation, different transport modes and markets, the main economic characteristics of transport
The demand for transport: factors influencing the demand for transport services (price, trip purpose, income levels, etc.) and the derived freight transport demand
The transport supply and direct costs: elements of firm economic theory applied to transport services, fixed and variables costs, economics of scale, scope and density, the notion of generalised costs, economics efficiency, etc.
Pricing of Transport Services: marginal cost pricing, price differentiation and discrimination, the peak problem
Transport and sustainable development: the external costs of transport, the economic cost of congestion, policies for transport sustainability
Transport and logistics: the adoption of transport economic principles within a larger supply-chain concept
Transport infrastructure and economic development: the importance of infrastructure, private and public investments, transport planning
Regulation of transport markets: theory of market regulation applied to transport industries
Innovation and transport: physical and virtual networks, infomobility, technological changes in transport and contribution of transport and logistics to firm innovation process
Main book: Button K., Transport Economics, 3rd edition, Edward Elgar, 2010.
Other recommended books:
Quinet E., Vickerman R., Principles of Transport Economics, Edward Elgar, 2004
Button K., Vega H., Nijkamp P., A Dictionary of Transport Analysis, Edward Elgar, 2010.
The reading material, the slides and other teaching material will be available on the web learning platform