Steering through Uncertainty: How economic policy instability shapes smart transportation budgets

Zhu Zhenye, Xiaofeng Zhang, Asima Siddique, Muhammad Zahir Faridi and Sajid Ali

Transport Policy, 2025, vol. 170, issue C, 178-192

Abstract: Economic policy uncertainty significantly impacts investment decisions, shaping technological advancements in critical sectors. Amid shifting economic landscapes, smart transportation technology is a key indicator of innovation and resilience. This research explores the asymmetric impact of economic policy uncertainty on smart transportation technology budgets in the top ten nations having the highest R&D funding in this field (China, the USA, Germany, Japan, Norway, the Netherlands, the UK, France, South Korea, and Sweden). The former studies used panel data tools and usually passed over nuanced national economic frameworks. This research adopts the sophisticated Quantile-on-Quantile technique, which estimates how various quantiles of the independent variable influence different quantiles of the dependent variable, thereby revealing asymmetric or nonlinear relationships. This method enables analysis of variables’ fluctuations in each economy, enhancing accuracy and deepening understanding of their unique features. Results reveal that economic policy uncertainty significantly curtails smart transportation technology budgets in most selected countries, each showing distinct patterns. These findings highlight the need for decision-makers to evaluate and formulate policies that manage economic policy uncertainty and smart transportation technology. Aligning these strategies with the Sustainable Development Goals will promote sustainable urban development, reduce emissions, and foster inclusive growth.

Keywords: Quantile estimation; Smart transportation technology budgets; Economic policy uncertainty; Sustainable development goals (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0967070X25001921
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:trapol:v:170:y:2025:i:c:p:178-192

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/supportfaq.cws_home/regional
https://shop.elsevie ... _01_ooc_1&version=01

DOI: 10.1016/j.tranpol.2025.05.013

Access Statistics for this article

Transport Policy is currently edited by Y. Hayashi

More articles in Transport Policy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().