Affordability and Subsidies in Public Urban Transport : What Do We Mean, What Can Be Done?
Subsidy policies on public urban transport have been adopted ubiquitously. In both developed and developing countries, subsidies are implemented to make transport more affordable. Despite their widespread implementation, there are virtually no quan...
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| Format: | Policy Research Working Paper |
| Language: | English |
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2012
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2007/12/8879859/affordability-subsidies-public-urban-transport-mean-can-done http://hdl.handle.net/10986/7562 |
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okr-10986-75622021-04-23T14:02:35Z Affordability and Subsidies in Public Urban Transport : What Do We Mean, What Can Be Done? Estupiñán, Nicolás Gómez-Lobo, Andrés Muñoz-Raskin, Ramón Serebrisky, Tomás ACCIDENTS AFFORDABILITY INDEX AFFORDABILITY INDICES AFFORDABLE TRANSPORT AIR AIR CONDITIONING AIR QUALITY ALTERNATIVE MODES ALTERNATIVE TRAVEL ALTERNATIVE TRAVEL MODES AUTOMOBILE BENCHMARK BUS BUS COMPANIES BUS COMPANY BUS FARES BUS OPERATORS BUS SERVICE BUS SERVICE OPERATORS BUS SERVICES BUS SUBSIDY BUS SYSTEMS BUS TRANSPORT BUSES CAPITAL SUBSIDIES CAR CAR USE CAR USERS CARS COMMUTER RAIL COMMUTING CONCESSIONARY FARES CONGESTION CONGESTION TOLLS CONSUMER PRICE INDEX CONSUMERS CONSUMPTION LEVELS CONSUMPTION TAXES COST OF TRAVEL CROSS SUBSIDIES CROSS SUBSIDY DIESEL DIESEL FUEL ECONOMIC EFFICIENCY ECONOMIC THEORY ECONOMIES OF SCALE ECONOMIES OF SCOPE ELASTICITY ELASTICITY OF DEMAND ENVIRONMENTAL EXTERNALITIES EXCLUSION EXTERNALITIES FARE STRUCTURE FARES FOR STUDENTS FLAT FARE FLAT RATE FLAT TARIFF FOOD SUBSIDIES FREE TRANSPORT FUEL FUEL DUTY FUEL DUTY REBATE FUEL PRICES FUEL TAX FUEL TAX REBATE FUEL TAX REVENUES FUELS GASOLINE GINI COEFFICIENT GOVERNMENT SUBSIDIES HIGHER FARE HOUSEHOLD TRAVEL INCOME INCOME GROUPS INDIRECT SUBSIDY INFRASTRUCTURE GRANTS INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS INFRASTRUCTURE SUBSIDY INTERURBAN TRANSPORT JOURNEYS LABOR MARKET LONGER TRIPS LORENZ CURVE LOW INCOME USERS LOW TARIFFS Subsidy policies on public urban transport have been adopted ubiquitously. In both developed and developing countries, subsidies are implemented to make transport more affordable. Despite their widespread implementation, there are virtually no quantitative assessments of their distributional incidence, making it impossible to determine if these instruments are pro-poor. This paper reviews the arguments used to justify subsidy policies in public urban transport. Using different tools to quantitatively evaluate the incidence and distributive impacts of subsidy policy options, the paper analyzes the findings of a series of research papers that study urban public transport subsidy policies in developed and developing countries. The available evidence indicates that current public urban transport subsidy policies do not make the poorest better off. Supply-side subsidies are, for the most part, neutral or regressive; while demand-side subsidies perform better-although many of them do not improve income distribution. Considering that the policy objective is to improve the welfare of the poorest, it is imperative to move away from supply-side subsidies towards demand-side subsidies and to integrate transport social concerns into wider poverty alleviation efforts, which include the possibility of channeling subsidies through monetary transfer systems or through other transfer instruments (food subsidies, health services and education for the poor). The general conclusion of the paper is that more effort should be devoted to improve the targeting properties of public urban transport subsidies using means-testing procedures to ensure a more pro-poor incidence of subsidies. 2012-06-08T18:52:36Z 2012-06-08T18:52:36Z 2007-12 http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2007/12/8879859/affordability-subsidies-public-urban-transport-mean-can-done http://hdl.handle.net/10986/7562 English Policy Research Working Paper; No. 4440 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/ World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper Publications & Research |
| repository_type |
Digital Repository |
| institution_category |
Foreign Institution |
| institution |
Digital Repositories |
| building |
World Bank Open Knowledge Repository |
| collection |
World Bank |
| language |
English |
| topic |
ACCIDENTS AFFORDABILITY INDEX AFFORDABILITY INDICES AFFORDABLE TRANSPORT AIR AIR CONDITIONING AIR QUALITY ALTERNATIVE MODES ALTERNATIVE TRAVEL ALTERNATIVE TRAVEL MODES AUTOMOBILE BENCHMARK BUS BUS COMPANIES BUS COMPANY BUS FARES BUS OPERATORS BUS SERVICE BUS SERVICE OPERATORS BUS SERVICES BUS SUBSIDY BUS SYSTEMS BUS TRANSPORT BUSES CAPITAL SUBSIDIES CAR CAR USE CAR USERS CARS COMMUTER RAIL COMMUTING CONCESSIONARY FARES CONGESTION CONGESTION TOLLS CONSUMER PRICE INDEX CONSUMERS CONSUMPTION LEVELS CONSUMPTION TAXES COST OF TRAVEL CROSS SUBSIDIES CROSS SUBSIDY DIESEL DIESEL FUEL ECONOMIC EFFICIENCY ECONOMIC THEORY ECONOMIES OF SCALE ECONOMIES OF SCOPE ELASTICITY ELASTICITY OF DEMAND ENVIRONMENTAL EXTERNALITIES EXCLUSION EXTERNALITIES FARE STRUCTURE FARES FOR STUDENTS FLAT FARE FLAT RATE FLAT TARIFF FOOD SUBSIDIES FREE TRANSPORT FUEL FUEL DUTY FUEL DUTY REBATE FUEL PRICES FUEL TAX FUEL TAX REBATE FUEL TAX REVENUES FUELS GASOLINE GINI COEFFICIENT GOVERNMENT SUBSIDIES HIGHER FARE HOUSEHOLD TRAVEL INCOME INCOME GROUPS INDIRECT SUBSIDY INFRASTRUCTURE GRANTS INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS INFRASTRUCTURE SUBSIDY INTERURBAN TRANSPORT JOURNEYS LABOR MARKET LONGER TRIPS LORENZ CURVE LOW INCOME USERS LOW TARIFFS |
| spellingShingle |
ACCIDENTS AFFORDABILITY INDEX AFFORDABILITY INDICES AFFORDABLE TRANSPORT AIR AIR CONDITIONING AIR QUALITY ALTERNATIVE MODES ALTERNATIVE TRAVEL ALTERNATIVE TRAVEL MODES AUTOMOBILE BENCHMARK BUS BUS COMPANIES BUS COMPANY BUS FARES BUS OPERATORS BUS SERVICE BUS SERVICE OPERATORS BUS SERVICES BUS SUBSIDY BUS SYSTEMS BUS TRANSPORT BUSES CAPITAL SUBSIDIES CAR CAR USE CAR USERS CARS COMMUTER RAIL COMMUTING CONCESSIONARY FARES CONGESTION CONGESTION TOLLS CONSUMER PRICE INDEX CONSUMERS CONSUMPTION LEVELS CONSUMPTION TAXES COST OF TRAVEL CROSS SUBSIDIES CROSS SUBSIDY DIESEL DIESEL FUEL ECONOMIC EFFICIENCY ECONOMIC THEORY ECONOMIES OF SCALE ECONOMIES OF SCOPE ELASTICITY ELASTICITY OF DEMAND ENVIRONMENTAL EXTERNALITIES EXCLUSION EXTERNALITIES FARE STRUCTURE FARES FOR STUDENTS FLAT FARE FLAT RATE FLAT TARIFF FOOD SUBSIDIES FREE TRANSPORT FUEL FUEL DUTY FUEL DUTY REBATE FUEL PRICES FUEL TAX FUEL TAX REBATE FUEL TAX REVENUES FUELS GASOLINE GINI COEFFICIENT GOVERNMENT SUBSIDIES HIGHER FARE HOUSEHOLD TRAVEL INCOME INCOME GROUPS INDIRECT SUBSIDY INFRASTRUCTURE GRANTS INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS INFRASTRUCTURE SUBSIDY INTERURBAN TRANSPORT JOURNEYS LABOR MARKET LONGER TRIPS LORENZ CURVE LOW INCOME USERS LOW TARIFFS Estupiñán, Nicolás Gómez-Lobo, Andrés Muñoz-Raskin, Ramón Serebrisky, Tomás Affordability and Subsidies in Public Urban Transport : What Do We Mean, What Can Be Done? |
| relation |
Policy Research Working Paper; No. 4440 |
| description |
Subsidy policies on public urban
transport have been adopted ubiquitously. In both developed
and developing countries, subsidies are implemented to make
transport more affordable. Despite their widespread
implementation, there are virtually no quantitative
assessments of their distributional incidence, making it
impossible to determine if these instruments are pro-poor.
This paper reviews the arguments used to justify subsidy
policies in public urban transport. Using different tools to
quantitatively evaluate the incidence and distributive
impacts of subsidy policy options, the paper analyzes the
findings of a series of research papers that study urban
public transport subsidy policies in developed and
developing countries. The available evidence indicates that
current public urban transport subsidy policies do not make
the poorest better off. Supply-side subsidies are, for the
most part, neutral or regressive; while demand-side
subsidies perform better-although many of them do not
improve income distribution. Considering that the policy
objective is to improve the welfare of the poorest, it is
imperative to move away from supply-side subsidies towards
demand-side subsidies and to integrate transport social
concerns into wider poverty alleviation efforts, which
include the possibility of channeling subsidies through
monetary transfer systems or through other transfer
instruments (food subsidies, health services and education
for the poor). The general conclusion of the paper is that
more effort should be devoted to improve the targeting
properties of public urban transport subsidies using
means-testing procedures to ensure a more pro-poor incidence
of subsidies. |
| format |
Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper |
| author |
Estupiñán, Nicolás Gómez-Lobo, Andrés Muñoz-Raskin, Ramón Serebrisky, Tomás |
| author_facet |
Estupiñán, Nicolás Gómez-Lobo, Andrés Muñoz-Raskin, Ramón Serebrisky, Tomás |
| author_sort |
Estupiñán, Nicolás |
| title |
Affordability and Subsidies in Public Urban Transport : What Do We Mean, What Can Be Done? |
| title_short |
Affordability and Subsidies in Public Urban Transport : What Do We Mean, What Can Be Done? |
| title_full |
Affordability and Subsidies in Public Urban Transport : What Do We Mean, What Can Be Done? |
| title_fullStr |
Affordability and Subsidies in Public Urban Transport : What Do We Mean, What Can Be Done? |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Affordability and Subsidies in Public Urban Transport : What Do We Mean, What Can Be Done? |
| title_sort |
affordability and subsidies in public urban transport : what do we mean, what can be done? |
| publisher |
World Bank, Washington, DC |
| publishDate |
2012 |
| url |
http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2007/12/8879859/affordability-subsidies-public-urban-transport-mean-can-done http://hdl.handle.net/10986/7562 |
| _version_ |
1764402779370029056 |