tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7464708.post4368295671397063112..comments2024-03-22T06:05:36.544-04:00Comments on Kids Prefer Cheese: Are Roads Public Goods?Mungowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02340064320347875601noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7464708.post-81498143223559404772012-11-25T04:13:10.533-05:002012-11-25T04:13:10.533-05:00Digital downloads are the only public good left......Digital downloads are the only public good left...<br />and the free market manages to take care of that rather well.Doc Merlinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13615897698740661539noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7464708.post-54900331416969285852012-11-19T22:07:58.117-05:002012-11-19T22:07:58.117-05:00Talk about strawmen. "public good" is on...Talk about strawmen. "public good" is only one (and a very limited) argument for government intervention.<br /><br />1. So how does one build an urban road without government intervention? To me, purely private means no use of eminent domain, etc.<br /><br />2. Are you saying that there are no positive externalities with roads? Because if there are, that would be what most consider a "market failure"<br /><br />Even if roads are not public goods, your conclusions re simply not justified by your logic.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7464708.post-27078974673271406342012-11-19T21:23:08.130-05:002012-11-19T21:23:08.130-05:00Personally, I haven't found debating the techn...Personally, I haven't found debating the technical definition of a public good to be of much use. It's far more productive to debate whether taxpayers should be given the opportunity to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_choice" rel="nofollow">put their taxes where their mouths are</a>. What do you think?Xerographicahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14978832439622230018noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7464708.post-72357466564433540092012-11-19T18:26:35.715-05:002012-11-19T18:26:35.715-05:00That's a rather forced definition of a public ...That's a rather forced definition of a public good. Wouldn't a better definition say something about the impossibility of a pure market economy creating it as it is only valuable in a system which can force everyone to pay? Military defense is by this standard a public good, though some people do better by it than others. Experiments with privatized militaries end badly.Kaleberghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05283840743310507878noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7464708.post-64999869869836079852012-11-19T12:33:06.140-05:002012-11-19T12:33:06.140-05:00For Anonymous
"Got some data to back this up...For Anonymous<br /><br />"Got some data to back this up?"<br /><br />I reference you to <br /><br />NCHRP Report 689 "Cost of Alternative Revenue-Generation Systems" Page 20, Figure 8. "Toll-collection costs as percent of revenues"<br />http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/nchrp/nchrp_rpt_689.pdfJ Scheppershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07054295955769316151noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7464708.post-31257362184589579302012-11-19T10:08:48.235-05:002012-11-19T10:08:48.235-05:00The reason for public provision is the transaction...The reason for public provision is the transaction costs of cobbling together access rights, I'd guess. <br /><br />Plus, since public roads aren't a fluid market, the current and future regulatory uncertainty has to be immense. Or so I would suspect. That alone would make it difficult to raise capital. <br /><br />I always ask my policy class whether roads get built thru poor neighborhoods because it is cheaper to acquire land in those areas, or because poor people are too politically impotent to do anything about it. <br /><br />If a good is non-rival but excludable, then that suggests natural monopoly, no? The rural highways could just as easily be regulated utilities. Gerardonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7464708.post-27647584597050267392012-11-19T07:23:03.201-05:002012-11-19T07:23:03.201-05:00"but still even with electronic tolling, coll..."but still even with electronic tolling, collection cost are in the 15% to 25% of all revenue collected"<br /><br />Got some data to back this up?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7464708.post-61924582450311852762012-11-18T21:51:57.386-05:002012-11-18T21:51:57.386-05:00Even if rural roads are a public good, what's ...Even if rural roads are a public good, what's the proper mechanism to ensure they're not over produced? Davenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7464708.post-74918475490298465722012-11-18T16:04:43.573-05:002012-11-18T16:04:43.573-05:00Roads are on a continuum from Public Goods to Priv...Roads are on a continuum from Public Goods to Private Goods. I would agree that collection costs are being reduced substantially, but still even with electronic tolling, collection cost are in the 15% to 25% of all revenue collected. <br /><br />The late Herbert Mohring did some great work in demonstrating the optimal congestion user fee would match the capital cost of the roadway. Mohring, H. and Harwitz, M., Highway Benefits(1962). I would add that adding the operating cost would be appropriate to make it truly balanced.<br /><br />An urban road at 3:00 am may be a more of a public good than a private good based on the demand and that none of the marginal cost of adding 4 lanes to the urban freeway for congestion adds value to the traveler far from the peak hour.<br /><br />While I agree that an urban freeway is a private good at 7:45 am it is important to note many of these new managed lanes with variable pricing come in with monopsony pricing with a heavy thumb on the scales from the political bodies that sanction their use. There is also a huge cost capital cost to separate the premium service from the payers of time.<br /><br />It is also worth noting that congestion may be overstated due to miscalculations of fuel costs that are collinear to time costs. Congestion may have a positive influence on reducing accident costs in more congested cities. Looking at the AAA data in Crashes vs. Congestion:<br /><br />Going from Large Cities to Very Large Cities the congestion cost goes from $487 to $733 per person at the same time accident costs are reduced from $1,585 to $1,406. This implies that increased accident costs could offset 70% of the marginal congestion cost savings.<br /><br />For the past 10 years the San Antonio Metro government officials have been working on developing seven mile stretch of US 281 in the region. From 2003 to the present the main focus has been a full freeway at a price near $500 million. But due to strong opposition an interim fallback position had to be taken in 2008-2009. The $7 million interim project (US 281 Traffic Study, page 106/116) delivered $19 million in (page 7/116) annual benefits compared with total delay costs of $25 million (Line 38 of Texas Most congested roadways) annual cost of delay estimated by TTI for TxDOT.<br /><br />At the heart of the matter is what Scott McBride says they are doing in Minnesota on MnPass Lanes “Rather than funding a few big ticket road projects a year, MnDOT's new priority is to take on more smaller projects that deliver 80 percent of the benefits of bigger projects at 10 to 20 percent of the cost”. These two examples are far from what people want when there is no direct payment for the use of facilities, but do shine a huge light on options that provide value with the resources that are available.<br />Allowing private solutions that do not regulate away the spirit of Mr. McBride’s statement is key to improved efficiency. The redirection and the pooling of current user fees is the more likely culprit of lack of revenue for transportation projects consumer unwilling to pay for improved service.<br /><br />Solutions that are constrained by what users are willing to pay (for use) focus the resources to more efficient investments. A federal pool of resources has too little user market signaling to efficiently direct infrastructure spending.<br /><br />AAA Congestion vs Crashes:<br />http://newsroom.aaa.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/2011_AAA_CrashvCongUpd.pdf<br /><br />US 281 EIS site:<br />http://www.411on281.com/US281EIS/<br /><br />TxDOT 2010 Most Congested Roads:<br />http://apps.dot.state.tx.us/apps/rider56/list.htm<br /><br />MnDOT: Star Tribune article:<br />http://www.startribune.com/local/106380333.html?page=1&c=yJ Scheppershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07054295955769316151noreply@blogger.com