CE5xx1

Transportation Economics

Objectives:

  1. To understand consumer and firm behaviour in the transportation sector
  2. To model consumer demand and firm supply in the transportation sector
  3. To identify market failures in the transportation sector and design appropriate government intervention
  4. To evaluate the outcomes of interaction between the consumer, firms, and the government in the transportation sector.

Course Contents:

  1. Household (समाज/சமூகம்): Theory of Consumer Choice – fundamental axioms, utility maximisation, individual/aggregate modelling of transportation demand
  2. Firms (व्यापार/வணிகம்): Theory of Firm Production – economic viability: fixed and operational cost of transportation, cost minimisation/profit maximisation, individual/aggregate modelling of transportation supply
  3. Government (सरकार/அரசு): Theory of Market Intervention – market failures in the transportation sector, environmental efficiency: transportation-related greenhouse gas emissions, social equity: transportation-related externalities (criteria pollutant emissions, noise pollution, traffic accidents, etc.)
  4. Market (बाज़ार/சந்தை): Theory of General Equilibrium applied to the Transportation Sector – social accounting matrix, transportation supply and demand elasticities

Textbooks:

  1. Button, K. (2010). Transport economics. (4th edition) Edward Elgar Publishing.
  2. McCarthy, K. (2001). Transport Economics: Theory and Practice: A Case Study Approach. Blackwell Publishing.
  3. Burfisher, M. E. (2021). Introduction to computable general equilibrium models. (3rd edition) Cambridge University Press.

Reference Books:

  1. Schiller, P. L., & Kenworthy, J. (2018). An introduction to sustainable transportation: Policy, planning and implementation. (2nd edition). Routledge.