ECONOMISTS GENERALLY EMPLOY CONSUMER'S SURPLUS CALCULATIONS IN ORDER TO EVALUATE USER BENEFITS GAINED FROM HIGHWAY INVESTMENTS WHICH INTRODUCE NEW TRAVEL OPTIONS AND SUBSTANTIALLY LOWER TRAVEL COSTS. THIS PAPER REVIEWS AND CLARIFIES RECENT CONTRIBUTIONS INVESTIGATING CONSUMER'S SURPLUS IN A GENERAL EQUILIBRIUM FRAMEWORK THUS MAKING IT MORE ACCESSIBLE TO HIGHWAY PLANNERS. SPECIAL EMPHASIS IS GIVEN TO THE MATHEMATICAL GENERALIZATION OF USER BENEFITS FROM N HIGHWAYS, AND THE INTEGRABILITY ASSUMPTION NECESSARY TO PRESERVE THE INTERPRETATION OF BENEFITS AS AREAS UNDER ORDINARY TRAVEL DEMAND CURVES. THE CONNECTION BETWEEN LINE INTEGRALS AND ORDINARY INTEGRALS IS MADE EXPLICIT. FINALLY, A NUMERICAL EXAMPLE APPROXIMATING THE USER BENEFIT FROM THE INTRODUCTION OF AN ADDITIONAL HIGHWAY TO AN EXISTING NETWORK IS PRESENTED. THIS APPROXIMATION IS ESPECIALLY USEFUL FOR OBTAINING AN EMPIRICAL MEASURE OF ANTICIPATED BENEFITS FROM NEW HIGHWAY INVESTMENTS BEFORE ACTUAL TRAFFIC DATA ON THESE IMPROVEMENTS BECOME AVAILABLE.(Author/publisher).
Abstract