| This project is concerned with cost-benefit analysis (CBA) of spatial investments (investments that induce spatially differentiated welfare effects), and focuses on the assessment of so-called indirect effects. These are effects that are assessed not by looking at welfare changes on the market in which the investment is made (e.g. the market for rail transport in case of a high-speed connection), but instead by attempting to capture induced benefits or costs in other markets (e.g. labour markets and/or housing markets). Such indirect effects are in practice hard to measure and estimates may vary strongly over CBA studies of the same project, while they are often responsible for a significant part (sometimes the majority) of the reported benefits of a project. An improved insight into the "correct" treatment (from a welfare economic perspective) of indirect welfare effects of spatial investments will improve the transparency and quality of public and private decision making, and would contribute to the scientific knowledge in this field. This project seeks to reach this through an integrated, balanced use of conceptual research, small numerical modelling exercises, and an applied case study. |
