Cost performance of transport infrastructure projects before and after the global financial crisis (GFC): Are differences observed in the conditions of project performance?

Eleni Moschouli, Raden Murwantara Soecipto and Thierry Vanelslander

Research in Transportation Economics, 2019, vol. 75, issue C, 21-35

Abstract: The aim of this research is to identify whether the conditions affecting the performance of European transport infrastructure projects, which are completed before and after the global financial crisis (GFC) (2008), are different. The projects that are tested are 22 European projects that are completed before the financial crisis and 25 European projects that are completed after. The method used is the fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA). One outcome is tested, being whether or not projects are delivered within the budgeted cost (on/over cost) till their completion. Findings show that after the GFC, the quality of the external environment, in terms of the institutional and the financial-economic context, matters more in order to deliver transport infrastructure projects on cost to completion. This means that transport infrastructure projects’ performance is depending on conditions exogenous to the projects more than before the GFC. The level of the cost of capital of the financing scheme is also an important condition, although for projects completed after the GFC, a low cost of capital can still lead to projects being over cost, when the external environment is unfavourable and the remuneration scheme brings high income risks and low cost coverage. Having a robust business model with respect to reducing costs during the construction phase of the project, which is a key factor based on literature, was found to matter both for the occurrence and non-occurrence of the cost outcome for the projects completed before the crisis, when combined with other conditions, but only for the non-occurrence of the cost outcome for the projects completed after the crisis.

Keywords: Cost performance; Financial crisis; Fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis; Transport infrastructure projects (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: R4 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0739885916302165
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:retrec:v:75:y:2019:i:c:p:21-35

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/supportfaq.cws_home/regional
https://shop.elsevie ... _01_ooc_2&version=01

DOI: 10.1016/j.retrec.2019.02.004

Access Statistics for this article

Research in Transportation Economics is currently edited by M. Dresner

More articles in Research in Transportation Economics from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().