Estimation of Social Costs of Highways in Japan

Fumitoshi Mizutani, Yusuke Suzuki and Shuji Uranishi
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Yusuke Suzuki: Faculty of Commerce, Kyushu Sangyo University
Shuji Uranishi: Graduate School of Economics, Osaka City University

No 2015-18, Discussion Papers from Kobe University, Graduate School of Business Administration

Abstract: This study estimates and evaluates the social costs of highways in Japan. Five kinds of social costs of vehicular transport are considered: traffic accidents, air pollution, noise, global warming, and traffic congestion. Major findings of this study are as follows. First, social costs increase at an accelerated rate as traffic volume increases. Second, the largest component of vehicular transport’s social costs on highways is traffic congestion, accounting for about 64%. The second largest component is traffic accidents, accounting for 24%. Third, among vehicle types, the social costs of buses are largest, at 105 yen per vehicle-km, about 16 times higher than the social costs of regular cars. Last, total social costs for whole highway networks are about 678,212 million yen, or about 0.13% of Japan’s GDP. Compared with highway fare revenues and the operating costs of highways, social costs equal 62.6% and 98.6%, respectively.

Keywords: Social costs; Car transportation; Highway; External costs (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H4 H5 L9 Q5 R4 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 16 pages
Date: 2015-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ene and nep-tre
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