The econometric estimation of airports’ cost function

The econometric estimation of cost functions has been proposed in the literature as a suitable approach in order to obtain estimations of marginal costs, efficiency levels and scale elasticities for transport industries. However, regarding the airport industry, no significant attention has been paid in developing an airport-specific estimation methodology rather than adapting the procedures applied to other industries. The lack of comparable airport data is one of the causes which could explain the scarcity of this literature in the past, as well as the use of very limited approaches to explain airport technology. This paper tries to overcome these limitations by developing an airport-specific methodology to estimate a multi-output long-run cost function using an unbalanced pooled database on 161 airports worldwide. The specification of hedonically-adjusted aircraft operations, domestic and international passengers, cargo and commercial revenues in the output vector, as well as the calculation of input prices are discussed. Both technical and allocative inefficiencies are specified in the model using a Stochastic Frontier method that has been estimated through Bayesian Inference and Markov Chain Monte Carlo methods.     

Incorporating negative externalities into productivity assessments of US airports

This paper analyses the efficiency of 44 US airports for the period 2005–2009. In addition to the conventional outputs (i.e., passengers, flights and cargo), we consider three undesirable externalities of airport activities: delays, noise and local air pollution. We adopt a directional distance function approach and perform a second stage analysis to investigate potential determinants of efficiency. Our base case results with only the positive outputs show that the greater the average aircraft size serving an airport and the larger the dimensions of the airport, the higher the technical efficiency. However, our results are sensitive to the inclusion of the undesirable outputs. The implications are that the inclusion of these externalities into the calculation of efficiency may impact policy decisions.     

Joint impact of competition,ownership form and economic regulation on airport performance and pricing

The combined impact of ownership form, economic regulation and competition on airport performance is analyzed using data envelopment analysis to measure cost efficiency in the first stage and regression analysis to measure the impact of the environment in the second stage. The empirical results of an analysis of European and Australian airports over a 10 year timeframe reveal that under relatively non-competitive conditions, public airports operate less cost efficiently than fully private airports. Irrespective of ownership form, regulation is necessary to emulate competitive forces thus pushing airport management towards cost efficiency and reasonable pricing policies. Under potential regional or hub competition, economic regulation inhibits airports of any ownership form from operating and pricing efficiently. Although public and fully private airports operate equally efficiently in a competitive setting, private airports still set higher aeronautical charges. Furthermore, mixed ownership forms with a majority public holding are neither cost efficient nor low price, irrespective of the level of competition.     

Inhalable railroad particles at ground level and subterranean stations - Physical and chemical properties and relation to train traffic

The paper compares PM10 concentrations in railroad environments with EU air quality standards and characterizes particle concentrations and particle properties in relation to train traffic. The results show that PM10 concentrations in ground-level railroad environments do not exceed the EU directive 24-h limit value, while on the platforms of the two subterranean stations PM10 concentrations were far above the outdoor limit value. Diurnal and weekly patterns in PM10 concentration could be identified, co-varying with train traffic intensity. The particle mass size distribution peaked at around 2-6 μm. The elemental composition of PM10 at the subterranean stations was dominated by Fe.     

Toxic air pollutants and trucking productivity in the US

This paper introduces toxic air pollutants into the measurement of trucking productivity to obtain true productivity growth. Our results show that omitting or ignoring toxic air pollutants in measuring trucking productivity yields statistically significant biased productivity estimates in for 2002-2005. Trucking productivity growth was understated by the traditional productivity measure, because the latter did not account for reductions in truck air pollution over time. We also find that the difference between traditional and environmental efficiency scores was negligible, suggesting that environmental constraint did not distort efficiency in the trucking sector.     

汽车空调对可吸入颗粒物的过滤机理和效果分析

本文旨在分析空调系统对可吸入颗粒物的阻隔机理、过滤机理和过滤效果。介绍了空调系统CLEAN AIR功能将车内空气质量控制在最优状态的工作机制。在不同风速下测定了单效空调滤清器和双效空调滤清器在过滤前后空气中可吸入颗粒物的计数浓度,得到了不同条件下各空调滤清器对可吸入颗粒物的过滤效率。研究发现,单效空调滤清器的过滤效率较低,不同条件下的过滤效率均不高于50%。双效空调滤清器对可吸入颗粒物的过滤效果更好,过滤效率达到80%以上,过滤效率随着颗粒物粒径的增大而增大,随着风速的增大而减小。双效过滤器的过滤阻力越大,其对可吸入颗粒物的过滤效率越高,而采用静电驻极技术可以在不牺牲风量的情况下显著提高可吸入颗粒物的过滤效率。另外,在不同的环境下,使用过相同里程和时间的空调过滤器的过滤效果会有很大差异。因此,依据过滤器的堵塞程度选择合理的更换周期,对维持良好的过滤效果具有重要的意义。     

Enhanced, multi criteria based site selection to measure mobile source toxic air pollutants

A multi-criteria-based site selection process that was developed for the Las Vegas near-road study is used to select the most appropriate near-road measurement sites in the Detroit area. The study measures particulate matter with aerodynamic diameters ?2.5 μm and mobile source air toxic compounds, and to document the rationale for selecting or rejecting specific sites. An application of this multi-criteria decision analysis may be the recent US Environmental Protection Agency rule requiring the siting of NO₂ monitors within 50 m of major roads as well as siting for the measurement of community-wide NO₂ concentrations.     

浙江省沿海典型码头大气污染水平及影响因素分析

本文选择浙江省沿海典型油气码头、干散货码头、件杂货码头和集装箱专用码头作为监测点,在一个自然年中分别选取代表日进行空气质量监测。根据污染物浓度水平,结合气象条件参数和交通流量参数,对大气污染物进行影响因素分析。结果表明:码头空气质量优于当地整体情况;SO_2、NO_2、PM_2.5和PM₁₀浓度变化与气温、湿度、风速呈负相关关系,与气压呈正相关关系,CO浓度受气象条件影响较小;靠港船舶和码头内作业车辆尾气是码头空气污染物的重要来源。     

Technical efficiency of automobiles – A nonparametric approach incorporating carbon dioxide emissions

We conduct an empirical analysis of the technical efficiency of cars sold 2010 in Germany. The analysis is performed using traditional data envelopment analysis (DEA) as well as directional distance functions (DDF). The approach of DDF allows incorporating the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions as an environmental goal in the efficiency analysis. A frontier separation approach is used to gain deeper insight for diesel and gasoline cars. Natural gas driven cars and sport utility vehicles are also treated as different groups. The results show that the efficiency measurement is statistically yet not economically significantly influenced by the incorporation of carbon dioxide emissions. Moreover, we find that natural gas driven cars are highly inefficient even if the reduction of emissions is accounted for in the analysis.     

Relationships Between US Consumer Expenditures on Communications and Transportation Using Almost Ideal Demand System Modeling: 1984–2002

Abstract

This study analyzes aggregate consumer expenditure data from the US between 1984 and 2002, to determine relationships between expenditures on transportation and communications. We first identified 15 categories of goods – nine for transportation, five for communications, and one for all others – and obtained prices for each category across time. Then, we applied the linear approximate almost ideal demand system (AIDS) method for estimating consumer demand functions, aggregating the categories to six (non-personal vehicle (PV), PV capital, PV operation, electronic communications media, print communications media, and all others) due to the small sample size. The results indicate that transportation and communications categories have both substitution and complementarity relationships. The existence of effects in both directions (substitution and complementarity) is testimony to the complexity of the relationships involved, with both generation and replacement possible and happening simultaneously. In addition, expenditures in the transportation categories are generally more income-elastic and price-elastic than those in communications, indicating that communications expenditures are more essential than those for travel. The transportation categories have both substitution and complementarity relationships with each other, while the two communications categories have a substitution relationship.