Measuring the benefits derived from a transportation investment -- a comment

Amihai Glazer and Esko Niskanen

Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, 1991, vol. 25, issue 6, 413-419

Abstract: Because an expansion of roads will shift the demand curves for interdependent roads, it may appear difficult to determine the consumer surplus generated by road projects. An extensive literature discusses different measures of consumer surplus, and the conditions under which the different measures give consistent answers. Little attention, however, has been given to a more fundamental problem: under what conditions does consumer surplus measure the benefits of an investment. We discuss both these issues, and explain the close relationship between the conditions guaranteeing the uniqueness of a measure of consumer welfare, and its usefulness in evaluating road projects. No uniqueness problem arises if different roads connect the same origin and destination; consumer surplus can then be measured by use of an aggregate demand curve.

Date: 1991
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0191-2615(91)90034-G
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:transb:v:25:y:1991:i:6:p:413-419

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

Access Statistics for this article

Transportation Research Part B: Methodological is currently edited by Fred Mannering

More articles in Transportation Research Part B: Methodological from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().