Wider economic impacts: what evidence from 20 years of the Channel Tunnel?
How transport affects economic performance has been a recurring theme in discussions on transport appraisal. Traditional views were that a well-constituted cost-benefit analysis would include all such effects as part of the user benefits; to include any additional effects would involve double-counti...
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| In: | URI:https://journals.openedition.org/rhcf, |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| Language: | Anglais |
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Revue d’histoire des chemins de fer
2022
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
| Summary: | How transport affects economic performance has been a recurring theme in discussions on transport appraisal. Traditional views were that a well-constituted cost-benefit analysis would include all such effects as part of the user benefits; to include any additional effects would involve double-counting. However, this depends on assuming that there is perfect competition in the rest of the economy. Where this does not occur there is scope for transport improvements to give rise to increased productivity and agglomeration effects that are cumulative. In this context transport infrastructure can have the potential to transform economies. The debate on these wider economic impacts of major infrastructure projects has developed considerably. This has been particularly the case in the UK over the last 10 years since the appraisal of Crossrail, which provided hard evidence of the scale of these potential impacts. The concern remains, however, that any such local effects may be essentially redistributional rather than having a net impact on economic performance overall. This is significant because it can provide the basis for an argument in support of the use of public funds in a project to ensure the capture of these wider impacts.In this paper we explore the nature of wider economic impacts and assess their relevance in the case of the Channel Tunnel. The paper draws on evidence from various ex ante research studies of the potential impacts of the Tunnel and a detailed study of Kent and Nord-Pas-de-Calais after 10 years of Tunnel operation and reflects on developments since. A recurring theme in this is the extent to which major transport improvements may have much greater impact on large economies with initial advantages in terms of economic mass than on smaller intermediate cities. The paper concludes with an assessment of how a range of different policy measures may have impacted on the overall outcome. |
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