Transportation Policy and Economic Regulation: Essays in Honor of Theodore Keeler

Transportation Policy and Economic Regulation: Essays in Honor of Theodore Keeler addresses a number of today’s important transportation policy issues, exploring a variety of transportation modes, and examining the policy implications of a number of alternatives. Theodore Keeler had a distinguished career in transportation economics, helping to shape regulatory policies concerning the transportation industries and assessing the appropriateness of various policies. A distinguishing feature of his work is that it always had policy implications. As a tribute to Theodore Keeler, this book examines transportation policy issues across a variety of transportation industries, including aviation, railroads, highways, motor carrier transport, automobiles, urban transit, and ocean shipping. The book evaluates the economic impact and effectiveness of various policies, employing empirical analyses and new estimation techniques, such as Bayesian analysis. The book is designed for transportation professionals and researchers, as well as transportation economics students, providing an in-depth analysis of some of today’s important transportation policy issues.

Policy changes established in the last 35-40 years have introduced profound changes in the business environment of the transportation industry. Past policy changes promoted the free market’s role in setting prices and determining service availability. While 21st century policy has focused on a variety of other issues, such as safety, road and air congestion, productivity growth, labor relations and exhaust emission, many still promote the role of competition.

In addition to examining various transportation policy issues in the U.S., the book explores some approaches to dealing with transportation issues in different parts of the world. Contemporary transportation policy debates have broadened from their initial focus of primarily examining the merits of reforming economic regulations at national levels, to now examining a variety of issues such as alternative methods of social regulation (such as safety regulation and emission controls), new approaches to changing economic regulations, the potential for reforming international regulations, and the appropriate role for government in transportation.

Examines transportation policy developments across a variety of modes, including some international analysisShows how new policy changes, such as changes in regulation, affect overall transportation system performanceFeatures chapters that use innovative methodologies, such as Bayesian techniques, qualitative analysis, and an attribute-incorporated Malmquist productivity indexExamines the ways that policy impacts depend on a variety of factors, and shows how economic tools can be used to gain greater insights into the likely impacts of policy and the desirability of various policiesAnalyzes transport prices, quality of service, safety, the use of information technology and operating issues, highlighting how transportation enhances quality of life

1. Theodore Keeler’s Impact on Transportation Economics and Policy 2. Theodore Keeler’s Analysis of the Early Effects of Deregulation of U.S. Transportation Industries 3. Commoditization and Segmentation of Aviation Markets 4. An Analysis of Mergers and Productivity Growth in the U.S. Railroad Industry 5. Policy in the Deregulated and Newly Competitive Railroad Industry: A Global Analysis 6. Designing Future Merger Policy in North American Rail: Lessons from the Past? 7. Ocean Container Shipping 8. Evolution of Transportation Policy and Economics 9. Competing with the Private Sector: The Welfare-Maximizing Response – The Case of Urban Public Transit 10. Devolution of Transportation: Reducing Big-Government Involvement in Transportation Decision Making 11.The Elusive Effects of CAFE Standards 12. Broker/Third Party Logistics Provider and Shipper Responsibility in Motor Carrier Selection: Considering Carrier Safety Performance 13. Sturdy Inference and the Amelioration Potential for Driverless Cars: The Reduction of Motor Vehicle Fatalities due to Technology