Marginal costs of road noise: Estimation, differentiation and policy implications

Jan-Erik Swärdh and Anders Genell

Transport Policy, 2020, vol. 88, issue C, 24-32

Abstract: This study estimates differentiated marginal costs of road noise and then discusses the pricing of these external costs. The estimates are based on the impact pathway approach, in which traffic noise exposure implies impacts on individuals, which in turn are related to the monetary valuation of these impacts. The marginal costs include both direct noise disturbances and impact functions of negative health outcomes due to noise exposure. The empirical results indicate that the marginal costs of road noise are highly dependent on the number of exposed individuals and the vehicle type. The overall conclusion is that differentiation of marginal costs is essential, as noise exposure varies strongly with population density, and different vehicle types contribute very differently to noise emissions. In addition, marginal costs differ substantially depending on time of day. The key policy implication is that marginal costs provide a basis for efficient external cost pricing of road traffic. We outline a pricing scheme, i.e., a differentiated kilometre tax system for road use, which would constitute a basis for efficiently pricing external costs. This system's attractiveness may increase in a future of non-fossil-fuel cars when tax revenues from petrol and diesel have decreased greatly.

Keywords: Road noise; Marginal cost; Differentiation; Pricing; Kilometre tax (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q53 R41 R48 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0967070X17308582
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:88:y:2020:i:c:p:24-32

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.2020.01.009

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 ().