The analysis of the relationship between transport and environmental
policy invites an interdisciplinary treatment and a variety of
approaches, and rightly so. An important subset of the approaches used
involves economic analysis. Economic approaches often consider pricing
policies, attempting to evaluate their effectiveness in comparison with
more traditional measures such as `command and control' regulation and
directed technological innovation. Another important subset of
approaches involves simulation modelling, where key relationships are
presented mathematically so that their influence can be quantified and
their interrelationships discerned precisely. This book treats the
intersection of these two subsets: simulation models with a strong
economic content. This intersection defines a broad but powerful way to
study environment and transport. Its breadth is illustrated by the wide
range of policies treated here, from carbon taxes to speed limits. Its
power derives from the way insights into interrelated actions and the
role of markets - the strong points of economic theory - are cast into a
form suitable for making quantitative predictions about the results of
policies.
Case studies are used to show how simulation models can be designed and
used to quantify the effectiveness of economic policies in terms of
transport systems management and environmental protection, the emphasis
being on the role of the markets in tracing the many effects that
policies have, both anticipated and otherwise.
