Publication:
Notes on the Economic Evaluation of Transport Projects

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2005-01
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2012-08-13
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In response to many requests for help in the application of both conventional cost benefit analysis in transport and addressing of the newer topics of interest, we have prepared a series of Economic Evaluation Notes that provide guidance on some of issues that have proven more difficult to deal with. The Economic Evaluation Notes are arranged in three groups. The first group (TRN-6 to TRN-10) provides criteria for selection a particular evaluation technique or approach; the second (TRN-11 to TRN-17) addresses the selection of values of various inputs to the evaluation, and the third (TRN-18 to TRN-26) deals with specific problematic issues in economic evaluation. The Notes are preceded by a Framework (TRN-5), that provides the context within which we use economic evaluation in the transport sector. Economic evaluation involves the assessment of the net value of projects and policies. In the transport sector we value projects in terms of their net worth, the difference between the value of their benefits and their costs, both measured so far as is possible in terms of monetary units. This disarmingly simple statement leads to many questions; evaluation by whom, for whom, from what perspective, at what stage. One of the features of transport decisions is that they typically impact on many parties - transport operators, individual transport users, local residents and businesses, land and property owners, national and local taxpayers.
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Mackie, Peter; Nellthorp, John; Laird, James. 2005. Notes on the Economic Evaluation of Transport Projects. Transport Notes Series; No. TRN-5. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/11791 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.
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    Distribution of Benefits and Impacts on Poor People
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    This note deals with the extent to which, and the means by which, project level distributional analysis of benefits can be undertaken and how poverty impact indicators can be developed. Section 1 sets out the issues associated with using traditional cost benefit analysis for the appraisal of pro-poor projects. Section 2 discusses the techniques and analysis available to consider the distributional consequences of a transport change, whilst Section 3 sets out a number of indicators that can be used for measuring poverty impacts. A summary of the key recommendations is made in Section 4.
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    The note focuses on three specific ways in which sub-optimal pricing can impact on project benefits: 1) through congestion and overcrowding (Section 1); 2) through overpricing and loss of user benefits (Section 2); and 3) through financial deficits which have implications for the rest of the economy (Section 3). Sections 1-3 of the Note seek to give practical advice on each situation, including how to approach the economic analysis of the situation, and the key implications for project appraisal. If pricing policy is not known with certainty at the time of the appraisal, then alternative pricing policies must form part of the risk and uncertainty analysis. This is covered in Section 4. Conclusions are given in Section 5.
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    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2005-01) Mackie, Peter; Nellthorp, John; Laird, James
    The objective of this note is to advise on an appropriate economic appraisal methodology that should be used for the assessment of Low Volume Rural Roads - that is roads upon which less than 200 motorized vehicles per day travel. Section 1 of this note sets out the reasons that Low Volume Rural Roads require a slightly different consideration from other transport projects. Section 2 discusses the approaches to economic evaluation that can be used for low volume rural roads, whilst Section 3 presents the manner that the consumer surplus method can be extended to account for the characteristics of low volume rural roads. Section 4 contains a summary of the main points of the note.
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