We analyze how the introduction of congestion charges in Gothenburg, Sweden, in 2013 affected the prices of condominiums. Using both a hedonic difference-in-difference (DiD) price regressions and the regression discontinuity design (RDD) approach we find robust evidence that the congestion charges made condominiums inside the toll zone less attractive. For instance, the findings from the DiD suggest a negative price impact on condominiums within the zone by about 6 percent compared to the control group (condominiums in Gothenburg outside the toll zone). The conclusion is that there is strong evidence that the congestion charges had a negative effect on property prices within the toll zone in Gothenburg. This can be explained by relatively small positive effects on traffic volumes and the environment within the zone. 

Beredskap kräver långsiktiga investeringar, men resurserna är begränsade och osäkerheten om framtida kriser stor. Därför är det ofta oklart vilka åtgärder som är mest angelägna, i vilken ordning de bör genomföras och vem som ska ansvara för och finansiera dem.  

Krisberedskap handlar i grunden om att fatta beslut under osäkerhet. Nyttan av beredskapsåtgärder uppstår först när en kris inträffar, medan kostnaderna uppstår här och nu. Det gör det svårt att avgöra vilka åtgärder som ska prioriteras och hur ansvar och resurser ska fördelas.  

Rapporten analyserar hur beredskapsåtgärder kan utformas och prioriteras på ett samhällsekonomiskt effektivt sätt. Särskilt fokus ligger på styrning och ansvarsfördelning inom offentlig förvaltning, samverkan mellan offentliga och privata aktörer samt hur beslut kan fattas under stor osäkerhet. 

Rapporten visar att en effektiv beredskapsuppbyggnad förutsätter tydlig ansvarsfördelning, stark nationell samordning och bra beslutsunderlag. Författarna lyfter särskilt fram behovet av utvecklade metoder för konsekvensanalys och tydligare former för samverkan mellan offentlig sektor, näringsliv och civilsamhälle. 

Understanding regional variation in public transport preferences is essential for designing efficient mobility systems. This study examines the stability of preferences for both traditional public transport and demand-responsive transport across three Swedish regions – Stockholm (urban), Skåne (intermediate), and Värmland (rural) – using discrete choice experiments. The analysis focuses on key service attributes: travel time, price, comfort, reliability, walking distance, crowding, and pre-booking requirements. The results show that comfort is consistently the most valued attribute, while pre-booking requirements, a feature specific to demand-responsive transport, are among the least important. Participants from Värmland have a stronger preference for reliability compared to those in Stockholm. Although the second most important attribute varies by region, the overall ranking patterns are similar, suggesting that regional differences in attribute importance are relatively minor.  

Recent research has found that health risk values elicited using Discrete Choice Experiments (DCEs) may be inadequately sensitive to the magnitude of the risk reduction, a phenomenon referred to as insensitivity to scope. This paper investigates the use of DCEs to estimate the value of a statistical life (VSL) under different experimental conditions. In particular, we use an experimental design where in one experimental arm we carry out a standard unincentivised DCE as in the existing literature, while in the other experimental arm we carry out an incentivized version of the DCE with real payments. Our findings suggest that the incentive has an impact on the results, in the sense that the VSL estimates are higher in the unincentivised arm of the experiment. However, we find evidence of external insensitivity to scope in both experimental arms and only weak evidence of stronger internal sensitivity to scope in the incentivized arm. Hence, our results suggest that a lack of scope sensitivity is unrelated to the hypothetical nature of the payments in stated-preference valuations of health risks.

This study examines how information about the effects of increased fuel taxes on fuel consumption, and with the possibility of compensating rural inhabitants (who use their cars more), impact the acceptance of fuel taxes and the psychological nature of the acceptance. Using a stratified survey in Sweden we analyze the support for increased carbon taxes for fuels. We find that 16 to 27 percent of the respondents support the proposed policy. A prime reason for this low support appears to be that most Swedes do not believe that higher fuel prices through taxation will lead to lower CO2 emissions from road transport. Equity concerns have also been shown to be a major objection against such tax increases, with a strong correlation between equity concerns and non-support for the tax increase. Our results suggest that neither information about the expected effect from taxation on emissions, nor the potential for redistribution, had an effect on the support for the taxes. When controlling for treatment, socioeconomic variables and demographic variables, the psychological variables showed that the respondents willing to support the increased fuel tax also had a positive attitude towards the tax, and a strong belief of their capacity to perform the behavior, and also a belief that supporting the tax is up to them. 

Background: Many regions worldwide are struggling to create a mode shift from private cars to more sustainable transport modes. While there are many reviews regarding travellers' preferences and travel mode choices, there is a lack of an updated review that provides a comprehensive overview of the factors that make public transport systems attractive.

Aim: This review aims to fill the knowledge gap by offering insights into the factors influencing travel behaviour and the demand for public transport. It has two primary objectives: & BULL; Summarize general conclusions drawn from international literature reviews. & BULL; Present specific insights on the topic pertaining to the Nordic countries. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first review with a Nordic focus regarding public transport preferences and travel mode choices. The special focus on these countries is motivated by their relatively more ambitious policies for reducing emissions in the transport sector compared to many other countries, and their relatively high usage of public transport today.

Methods: To achieve these objectives, we conducted a review of existing literature. This review encompassed international literature reviews and included an examination of results from the Nordic countries.

Findings: The findings show that reliability and frequency are important factors for creating an attractive public transport supply. However, there is only limited evidence regarding the impact of improvements in these attributes on public transport demand, so this needs more research. This review highlights the importance of understanding the underlying motivations for travel mode choice and provides recommendations on areas for further investigation to understand the attractiveness of public transport supply.

In this paper, we present a study of Swedish inhabitants' preferences for distribution in three dimensions in the context of transport investments. Using choice experiments, we study the respondents' preferences for the distribution of benefits in the geographical, gender, and income dimension in relation to aggregate benefits. We find that they have quite strong preferences for equality in all dimensions, especially in the gender dimension. Additionally, when distribution is unequal, respondents tend to prefer that it is uneven in favour of non-metropolitan regions, women and low-income earners. We also find that variables describing self-interest, some general beliefs and the extent to which respondents consider the Swedish society to be fair may explain some preference heterogeneity.

Beginning as a planning tool within Sweden's national road administration some 50 years ago, benefit-cost analysis (BCA) has come to be a pillar of the national transport policy because of subsequent strategic choices made by the national parliament. These choices made it necessary to widen the analysis of costs to include also externalities and a foregone conclusion was that efficient investment priorities should be made based on BCA. But no one asked whether the political decision makers or the BCA models were up to that task. This paper reviews the institutional framework and practice of BCA in Sweden for transport infrastructure investment, and considers design issues that have been and still are debated, such as whether the discount rate should include a risk term and how to account for the marginal cost of public funds. A main concern with BCA results is the underestimation of construction costs, making transport sector projects look better than they are. Several ex post analyses have established that a higher NPV ratio increases the probability of being included in the investment program proposal prepared by the agency. The requirement to let projects undergo BCA seems to make planners trim project proposals by trying to reduce investment costs without significantly reducing benefits. This relationship is weaker among profitable projects. Moreover, there is no correlation between rate of return and the probability of being included in the final program, which is established on political grounds.

Valuation of traffic noise abatement based on hedonic pricing models of the property market has traditionally measured the noise as the equivalent, or another average, level. What is not captured in such a noise indicator is the maximum noise level of a vehicle passage. In this study, we incorporate the maximum noise level in the hedonic model letting the property price depend on both the equivalent noise level and the maximum noise level. Hedonic models for both rail and road noise are estimated. Data consists of characteristics of sold properties, property-specific noise calculation, and geographical variables.

We use the hedonic approach to estimate the marginal willingness to pay (WTP) for maximum noise abatement where we model the effect as the maximum noise level subtracted with the equivalent noise level. Furthermore, we control for the equivalent noise level in the estimations. The estimated results show that including the maximum noise level in the model has influence on the property prices, but only for rail and not for road. This means that for road we cannot reject the hypothesis that WTP for noise abatement is based on the equivalent noise level only. For rail, on the other hand, we estimate the marginal WTP for the maximum noise level and it turns out to be substantial. Also, the marginal WTP for the equivalent noise levels seems to be unaffected by the inclusion of the maximum noise level in the model. More research of this novel topic is requested though.