Transport cost benefit analysis. Basic assumptions and accounting rules

This report is a collection of papers on the methods of transport project appraisal and transport cost benefit analysis. The first paper defends the normative use of transport economics provided equity issues are addressed. What follows are derivations of transport cost benefit rules and proposals concerning the discount rate, the treatment of sustainability, and project selection. The next papers treat specific issues such as industrial reorganisation benefits, freight values of time, scheduled transport costs, how congestion pricing affects the cost of capital, and how to find the benefit cost ratio of a marginal increase in the maintenance budget. Finally, environmental input output analysis is proposed as a general approach to take account of impacts on sectors or areas outside the transport model. Items 1, 7 and 8 are published papers. The others are conference papers, excerpts from project deliverables or texts never published at all. Most of them require some knowledge of mathematics.