Source: The social cost of road crashes and injuries | Ministry of Transport.
Annual social cost of road crashes in New Zealand, 1997-2014
07 Mar 2016 Leave a comment
in economic history, transport economics
Less extreme overloading than this is common in the rural Philippines
02 Mar 2016 Leave a comment
in economics, transport economics
HT: Julian Weeks
The cycling community is rather intolerant of criticism @JKruppster
01 Mar 2016 Leave a comment
in administration, transport economics
My blog post on bicycles must go at night attracted a fair degree of personal abuse from the cycling sub-reddit. Another local economist is going where angels fear to tread.
Bring back @RusselNorman to save the planet from @NZGreens MPs carbon footprint @DBSeymour
28 Feb 2016 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, environmental economics, global warming, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice, transport economics Tags: carbon footprint, carbon offsets, Left-wing hypocrisy, New Zealand Greens, rational irrationality
Living the clean, green lifestyle means more than just buying carbon-offs in the same way that indulgences for sins were sold by the mediaeval Catholic Church. Russell Norman was an MP for 9 of the 12 months covered by this chart. He consistently had one of the smallest carbon footprints of a Green MP even when he was still co-leader of the Greens and not just a backbench MP.
Source: New Zealand Parliament – Members’ expense disclosure from 1 October to 31 December 2015.
New Zealand MP travel expenses 1 October – 31 December 2015 @DBSeymour
28 Feb 2016 1 Comment
in economics of bureaucracy, environmental economics, global warming, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice, rentseeking, transport economics Tags: carbon footprint, New Zealand Greens, rational irrationality
10 of the 14 green MPs have above-average air travel expenses – have an above average carbon footprint for a member of the New Zealand Parliament. It is not easy to be Green.
Source: New Zealand Parliament – Members’ expense disclosure from 1 October to 31 December 2015.
@NZGreens MPs travel expenses in the 3 months to 31 December 2015 @dbseymour @JordNZ
28 Feb 2016 Leave a comment
in environmental economics, global warming, politics - New Zealand, transport economics Tags: Green Left, Left-wing hypocrisy, Leftover Left, New Zealand Greens, rational irrationality
Source: New Zealand Parliament – Members’ expense disclosure from 1 October to 31 December 2015.
Source: New Zealand Parliament – Members’ expense disclosure from 1 October to 31 December 2015.
Time-starved skilled workers may be driving gentrification
23 Feb 2016 Leave a comment
in economic history, transport economics, urban economics
Bicyclists do not like evidence-based road safety policy
15 Feb 2016 Leave a comment
in administration, economics of regulation, transport economics
Bicyclists get very upset when they are told about the dangers. They immediately resort to personal abuse about my post arguing that bicycles at night should be banned.
This anger is another reason why bikes must go. Bicyclists are surly people who respond aggressively when they should do more reserved and careful.
How often does the human driver take over a self-driving car?
11 Feb 2016 Leave a comment
in entrepreneurship, technological progress, transport economics
Matthew E. Kahn’s Keynote Address for 3rd Urbanization and Poverty Reduction World Bank Conference
11 Feb 2016 Leave a comment
in climate change, environmental economics, global warming, transport economics, urban economics Tags: climate change adaptation, Matthew Kahn
Matthew Kahn on urban climate change adaptation @RusselNorman @JulieAnneGetner
10 Feb 2016 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, environmental economics, global warming, transport economics, urban economics Tags: climate adaptation
If you do not follow this guy’s blog, there is a serious gap in your education in urban and environmental economics especially with regard to climate change.
If you love nature, stay away from it – Ed Glaeser
09 Feb 2016 Leave a comment
in energy economics, environmental economics, global warming, politics - New Zealand, transport economics, urban economics
It is hard to imagine any merchant who harmed the environment as much as Henry David Thoreau…
We are a destructive species, and if you love nature, stay away from it. The best means of protecting the environment is to live in the heart of a city.
Ed Glaeser
Source: If you love nature, move to the city – The Boston Globe.
Gender commuting gap for workers who travel to and from home to work
04 Feb 2016 Leave a comment
in discrimination, gender, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice, transport economics, urban economics Tags: commuting times, reverse gender gap
I lived in Japan so that 60% extra time the Japanese men spend travelling to and from work in those cramped trains is not to be underrated.
Source: OECD Family Database – OECD.
@TransportBlog forgets the car ownership data it published
04 Feb 2016 Leave a comment
in economic history, politics - New Zealand, transport economics, urban economics
Transport Blog was making much of some data about how a lot of people used public transport and New Zealand in the 1950s:
Take Auckland as an example. According to Paul Mees [Transport for Suburbia, p. 21], in 1954 Auckland’s public transport network “accounted for 58 per cent of trips by motorized modes, private transport only 42 per cent. When walking and cycling, which were not surveyed, are taken into account, it is likely that fewer than a third of daily trips were by car.”
… public spending to enable car travel did not respond to existing demand – it was intended to shape future demand. (And in doing so, change the shape of the city).
…
“roads first” transport policies seem less like an exercise in meeting demands, and more of a component of a large social engineering programme.
Transport Blog forgot previous data it dugout on trends in car ownership per capita in New Zealand since 1925. There is an explosive growth in car ownership from the 1950s onwards with the post-war economic boom. The roadbuilding that followed responded to this growing wealth of the New Zealand people rather than the other way round.
Source: The Infernal Combustion Engine « transportblog.co.nz.
People like owing and driving cars. Transport Blog begrudgingly admits in its post today that cars have some advantages.
Young people save up to buy a car not because they are duped by the enemies of public transport, they save because a car is a good way to get around.
Privately owned cars are more comfortable, faster, more private, more convenient in trip timing, and more flexible for multiple tasks on one trip than any form of public transit. What cannot be avoided as Anthony Downs explains is:
As household incomes rise around the world, more and more people shift from slower, less expensive modes of movement to privately owned cars and trucks.
Downs argues that it is time to settle down and accept what cities are:
…peak-hour traffic congestion is inescapable in large modern metropolitan areas the world over. Business firms want most people on the job during the same hours so that workers can interact efficiently. Many firms also want to locate in low-density establishments scattered across the landscape.
Households want a range of choices of where to live and work, and most want to live in low-density settlements that are separate from poorer households, use private vehicles for most travel and be able to carry out multiple errands on a single trip.
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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