Differentiating Forms of Economic Impact
The Forkenbrock Series on Public Policy held its conference on transport economics - bringing together academics and practitioners to discuss cutting edge issues in transport finance and economic evaluation. Glen Weisbrod addressed the conference audience on the topic of "Differentiating Forms of Economic Impact" - focusing on the fact that there is a serious mismatch between the way that academic researchers and policy-makers consider economic impacts.
The mismatch comes because researchers are often concerned about questions of how and when transportation matters to the economy, while policy-makers take those relationships as a given and are more concerned about how to optimize priorities, regulations and implementation plans. The policy issues lead to a need for more research on how logistics, connectivity and access affect economic growth, rather than continued debate over just how many jobs are created per dollar of investment in transportation.
Research Sources
NCHRP - Guidebook for Assessing Social and Economic Effects of Transportation Projects, by David Forkenbrock and G. Weisbrod. NCHRP Report 456, National Academy Press, 2001
ARC - Sources of Regional Growth in Non-Metro Appalachia, by Economic Development Research Group, Regional Technology Strategies and MIT Department of Urban Studies & Planning, for the Appalachian Regional Commission, 2008
FHWA - Economic Effects of Selected Rural Interstates at the County Level, by Jack Faucett Associates and Economic Development Research Group, 2005
Portland - The Cost of Congestion to the Portland Region, by Economic Development Research Group for the Portland Business Alliance, Port of Portland, Metro and Oregon DOT, 2005