Browse by: "2010"

La pratique de l’analyse coût bénéfice (ACB) est de longue tradition en France puisqu’elle remonte à Dupuit (1849) mais elle reste toujours un sujet d’actualité. Cette pratique en effet résulte de la rencontre de la théorie économique et des processus de décisions concernant les choix de projet. Or ces deux volets changent constamment : les avancées et progrès de la théorie permettent des perfectionnements constants des méthodes et outils techniques utilisés, et d’autre part des modifications dans les processus de décisions et dans les organisations institutionnelles transforment les besoins d’évaluations. Ces modifications permanentes connaissent dans certains pays des temps forts de mutation rapide, et c’est actuellement le cas de la…

The paper draws from already published material. In fact, a reader already familiar with the congestion charging literature will find few completely new findings or insights. The contribution of the paper is rather the selection of the most relevant, interesting, important and sometimes surprising facts, insights, findings, advice and conclusions for policymakers, out of a vast literature on congestion charging in general and Stockholm in particular.

The Millennium Declaration set 2015 as the target date for halving the number of people living in extreme poverty. Exceptional progress in some developing countries makes achieving that goal globally a realistic possibility. However, many countries will fall far short, and up to 1 billion people are likely to remain destitute by the target date. Why are some countries doing better than others? This paper seeks to answer this question by looking for shared characteristics of twenty-five developing countries posting extraordinary success in reducing extreme poverty over the past twenty to twenty-five years. These countries were compared using indicators of their macro-economic characteristics and, especially, their agricultural economic characteristics. The countries chosen for analysis constitute a highly diverse mix. The group includes some of the poorest and some of the richest developing countries in the world, representing virtually all geographic regions. The countries also differ greatly in their systems of governance and economic management. Yet, they are surprisingly similar in their achievements, not only in reducing poverty, but across the broad range of macroeconomic and agricultural economic performance measures used to compare them. Findings from time-series, cross-section regression analysis reveal that while economic growth generally was an important contributor to poverty reduction, the sector mix of growth mattered substantially, with growth in agricultural incomes being especially important.

Singapore is an island-state with a land area of about 710 square km, measuring 42 km across and 23 km from north to south. Densely populated with more than 4.8 million people, its transport needs are served by an infrastructure of 147 km of MRT/LRT lines and 3,300 km of roads catering to more than 900,000 vehicles. Given its land constraints, Singapore’s overall transportation strategy cannot rely on building roads and more roads to serve its populace’s travel needs. It needs a comprehensive and affordable public transport system and sustainable demand management tools.

Le nombre de marchés publics inférieurs aux seuils fixés par l'Union européenne ne cesse d’augmenter au point de représenter une part considérable de l'ensemble des marchés publics passés dans tous les États membres de l’UE. Il est de ce fait primordial d'encadrer et d'organiser l'adjudication de ces marchés de manière saine et efficace, en élaborant des politiques et des règles dédiées au niveau national.

This study revisits some of the key project participants and archive data, to provide a deeper understanding of what were the major cost drivers and whether it can be lower in future installations. The approach taken is to emphasise understanding of the particular circumstances rather than comparing aggregates with other seemingly similar systems. A main conclusion is that the political context, with a tight time plan and very high political risks for all involved, were key factors for the eventual costs of establishing the system.

Le présent rapport expose des données et une réflexion sur les évolutions récentes des marchés mondiaux des transports, et analyse les politiques qui semblent les plus prometteuses pour stabiliser les émissions de CO2 des véhicules légers. Au lendemain de la crise économique, la reprise encore incertaine n’est pas uniformément répartie sur l’ensemble de la planète. Cette conjoncture peut avoir des répercussions sur les structures des échanges et les flux de produits au niveau mondial, et donc sur les principaux flux de transport de marchandises. Il y a fort lieu de penser, d’après notre analyse, que la maîtrise des émissions futures de gaz à effet de serre dues aux transports passera par le recours aux technologies permettant de réduire…

Passenger vehicles are a major source of greenhouse gas emissions and prodigious consumers of petroleum, making their fuel economy an important focus of energy policy. Whether or not the market for fuel economy functions efficiently has important implications for both the type and intensity of energy and environmental policies for motor vehicles. There are undoubtedly imperfections in the market for fuel economy but their consequences are difficult to quantify. The evidence from econometric studies, mostly from the US, is reviewed and shown to vary widely, providing evidence for both significant under- and over-valuation and everything in between. Market research is scarce, but indicates that the rational economic model, in general, does not appear to be used by consumers when comparing the fuel economy of new vehicles. Some recent studies have stressed the role of uncertainty and risk or loss aversion in consumers’ decision making. Uncertainty plus loss aversion appears to be a reasonable theoretical model of consumers’ evaluation of fuel economy, with profound implications for manufacturers’ technology and design decisions. The theory implies that markets will substantially undervalue fuel economy relative to its expected present value. It also has potentially important implications for welfare analysis of alternative policy instruments.

Road user charging is used as an 'umbrella' term to describe a wide range of applications of pricing roads and infrastructure. Road user charging includes a number of charging measures that governments and other road owners use to: i) finance new or maintain existing road infrastructure ii) manage traffic (e.g. reduce congestion) iii) minimise environmental impacts of transport iv) internalise the external costs of road transport caused, e.g., by pollution and noise emissions. Historically, the common approach to charging for road use is some form of general taxation rather than differentiated road user charging. Road user charging has long been proposed as an efficient and equitable method to pay for road use and to fund road infrastructure projects. However, there is an important distinction between charging for revenue generation purposes as opposed to pricing roads to provide congestion relief. The two basic objectives, revenue generation and congestion management, differ in several ways, as shown in the following table.

Power generation from fossil fuel is one of the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions, representing 41% of global energy-related CO2 emissions. Combined with the fact that there are a number of low-carbon technologies available for generating electricity, the sector is therefore a key policy target for delivering near-term and long-term reductions in emissions. This report identifies the importance of these risk factors in the economics of transition by illustrating the case of investment in the power sector. To a great extent, the transition to a lowcarbon power sector means dealing with coal plants, which is the largest contributor, accounting for 73% of global power sector CO2 emissions, and particularly those from the United States, Europe and China, which contribute 17%, 9% and 24% respectively of global power sector CO2 emissions.