This paper reviews the effectiveness and acceptation of traffic and transport pricing policy from an economic perspective. In theory, economically efficient prices ought to be equal to marginal costs. At present this is not the case in practice: certain (external) costs are not included in the price of mobility. Government intervention in road use by means of pricing policy is thus justified from the economic point of view. Practical obstacles make it very difficult for governments to set efficient prices. One need only think, for example, of limited acceptance and of the technical impossibility of fully differentiating levies. That is the reason why much economic research is now being carried out on the design of a more realistic pricing policy (so-called second-best pricing) so that the highest possible efficiency level may be attained. Such a pricing policy, like for instance tolling on only one particular road in a network, might lead to considerably lower welfare when compared to optimal pricing. We discuss a number of characteristics of such second-best policies. In addition, we also examine economic research that has been done towards the behavioural effects of pricing measures, both theoretically and empirically. What will emerge is that prices can have quite an effect, depending on design and size of the price change. If we compare this with other disciplines we shall see that this is not something that goes without saying. Further research into behavioural effects in a multidisciplinary context is thus required, not just because of new scientific insights but also because traffic and transport pricing policy now has an important place on the political agenda. (Author/publisher)
Abstract