Are CBA Results Robust: Experiences from the Swedish Transport Investment Plan, 2010-2021
2011 (English)In: ETC Conference Papers 2011, Association for European Transport, 2011Conference paper, Published paper (Refereed)
Abstract [en]
The use of Cost-benefit analysis (CBA) as a tool for choosing between suggested transport investments is often questioned. Many argue that the results completely rest on what assumptions are made. This paper studies whether this is true for two sorts of assumptions; climate policy assumptions and benefit valuations. First, we study how much the CBA ranking is affected by varying the relative weight of different types of benefits. The valuation of travel time, traffic safety, emissions and freight benefits are systematically varied for 480 suggested road and rail investments in the latest Swedish transport investment plan. The conclusion is that the ranking is surprisingly stable. The balance between road and rail is also robust. Second, we vary the relative weights within a benefit type by differentiating the value of time. This exercise has an even smaller effect on ranking. Last, scenario assumptions relating to future climate policy options are altered. Even rather drastic assumptions, such as a doubled oil price, change the benefits with only a few percent and the rankings are hardly affected at all. The exception seems to be car ownership. In conclusion, our study suggests that decision makers can feel secure that following the CBA methodology will lead to sound investments being prioritized. The top-ranked investments stay more or less the same in all sensitivity tests.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Association for European Transport, 2011.
Keywords [en]
Cost benefit analysis, Investment, Transport infrastructure, Method, Evaluation (assessment), Variability, Journey time, Safety, Emission, Freight
National Category
Transport Systems and Logistics
Research subject
00 Road: General works, surveys, comprehensive works, 02 Road: Economics; 10 Road: Transport, society, policy and planning
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:vti:diva-12400OAI: oai:DiVA.org:vti-12400DiVA, id: diva2:1139113
Conference
European Transport Conference, Glasgow, Scotland, UK, October 10-12, 2011.
Funder
TrenOp, Transport Research Environment with Novel Perspectives2017-09-062017-09-062024-07-17Bibliographically approved