Relación entre la demanda de transporte de mercancías por carretera y la economía. Resultados de un análisis estructural con tablas input-output

En la mayoría de países industrializados la demanda de transporte de mercancías por carretera ha venido ligada al crecimiento económico. Sin embargo, las últimas décadas se ha visto cómo esta relación se está perdiendo en algunos países y se están registrando caídas del transporte, incluso en periodos de expansión económica. Este artículo propone un análisis Input-Output de descomposición estructural para explicar cuáles son los factores que, además del crecimiento del PIB considerado tradicionalmente, han guiado las tendencias de la demanda de transportes de mercancías por carretera. En este análisis se vinculan variables económicas junto a otras variables de carácter logístico y estructural y se cuantifican, para España y Reino Unido y los años entre 1999 y 2007, las contribuciones sectoriales al crecimiento-decrecimiento de tráfico de la evolución de la intensidades de transporte de mercancías por carretera, la estructura productiva del país, la estructura del PIB nacional, el crecimiento del PIB nacional, y el crecimiento de las importaciones. Los resultados demuestran que la evolución de variables como la intensidad de transporte de mercancías por carretera ha sido muy diferente en ambos países y esto ha causado que el transporte por carretera haya seguido altamente ligado al crecimiento económico en España, mientras que en Reino Unido se han observado, desde hace varios años, diminuciones de las tasas de tráfico. Por otro lado, también es destacable que las últimas décadas, ambos países han sufrido una restructuración económica y productiva que está promoviendo que el transporte se desvincule de la economía

The impact of the structure of the economy on the evolution of road freight transport: a macro analysis from an input-output approach

Understanding the link between transport and the economy has been of the greatest concern among researchers and practitioners. This research explores the impact of the economic restructuring processes in the aggregate road freight transport demand. We develop a simulation exercise of two alternative economic scenarios over the period 1999–2011 in Spain and the UK by means of an extended Input-Output model. This approach allows us to calculate the elasticity range of vehicles-km to GDP depending upon the types of economic activity developed in these countries and their dematerialization level. The results confirm that the transition to more service-oriented economies implies much lower transport requirements, as has been the case in the UK. Furthermore, the comparison of the two countries has contributed to highlight the importance of other set of non-economic variables, related to technological, logistics and modal factors in the definition of final road freight transport demand

Comparison of Road Freight Transport Trends in Europe: Results of Input-Output Structural Decomposition Analysis

Decoupling road freight transport from economic growth has been acknowledged by the European Union to be a key means to improving sustainability. It is therefore important to identify the drivers that explain road freight transport demand in order to determine the most appropriate policy measures to reduce road transport without curbing economic development. This research uses an Input–Output (IO) structural decomposition analysis (SDA) to explain road freight transport in terms of a set of key variables that have strongly influenced road freight demand in recent decades in European countries. This methodological approach allows us to quantify the contribution of certain factors in each country —such as economic growth, economic structure and the evolution of road freight transport intensity (including improvements in both supply and transport systems) — to road freight transportation. The empirical basis for this analysis is a dataset of nine European countries which have IO tables and road transport data available from 2000 to 2007, comprising data on domestic production, imports and exports as well as tonne-kms for 11 types of commodity classes. The results show that aggregate road transport demand has grown – driven mainly by economic activity– but this growth has been strongly curbed in some countries by changes in road freight transport intensity and moderately by the dematerialization of the economy. As a result, different levels of decoupling can be seen across Europe

Road freight transport decoupling: a comparative analysis between the United Kingdom and Spain

Economic growth has traditionally been linked to road freight transport demand, leading to a steady rise in social and environmental impacts. Concern about this problem has caused the EU to promote a decoupling strategy aimed at boosting sustainable development in European countries by improving the efficiency of transport systems without curbing economic growth. Over the last few years empirical evidence in some countries such as the United Kingdom has shown an increase in GDP while the volume of road freight traffic has remained stable or even decreased. This paper compares recent decoupling trends by analyzing the evolution of road tonne-kms/GDP relationship in the United Kingdom and Spain from 1999 to 2007. This comparison seeks to identify the main differences and key drivers of decoupling in both countries. We first provide an overview of the divergences between both economic structures and levels of road transport intensity. Then we conduct a decomposition analysis in order to identify the variables that explain the evolution of truck traffic per unit of GDP in each country. The results show that the increasing share of services in GDP has substantially contributed to decreasing road transport demand in both cases. Changes in road transport intensity due to improvements in logistic and supply chain management have been more successful in the UK than in Spain

Interregional trade changes in Spain caused by the introduction of a road fee charge for heavy goods vehicles

The introduction of a homogeneous road charging system according to the Directive 2011/76/EU for the use of roads is still under development in most European Union (EU) member states. Spain, like other EU members, has been encouraged to introduce a charging system for Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGVs) throughout the country. This nationwide charge has been postponed because there are serious concerns about their advantages from an economic point of view. Within this context, this paper applies an integrated modeling approach to shape elastic trade coefficients among regions by using a random utility based multiregional Input- Output (RUBMRIO) approach and a road transport network model in order to determine regional distributive and substitutive economic effects by simulating the introduction of a distance-based charge (?/km) considering 7,053.8 kilometers of free highways linking the capitals of the Spanish regions. In addition, an in-depth analysis of interregional trade changes is developed to evaluate and characterize the role of the road charging approach in trade relations among regions and across freight intensive economic sectors. For this purpose, differences in trade relations are described and assessed between a base-case or ?do nothing? scenario and a road fee-charge setting scenario. The results show that the specific amount of the charge set for HGVs affect each region differently and to a different extent because in some regions the price of commodities and the Generalized Transport Cost will decrease its competiveness within the country

Evoluciona la demanda de transporte de mercancías por carretera de acuerdo al PIB? Análisis de los factores que han generado el desacoplamiento actual en países europeos.

Tradicionalmente, la demanda de transporte de mercancías por carretera ha estado íntimamente vinculada al crecimiento económico, lo que ha hecho que variables económicas agregadas como el PIB hayan sido ampliamente utilizadas para construir modelos de previsión de demanda de tráfico. Sin embargo, en los últimos años, algunas evidencias empíricas han demostrado cómo, en diversos países, el PIB ha ido creciendo mientras el volumen de demanda de transporte se mantenía estable o incluso disminuía. En este contexto, este artículo realiza una revisión de los principales estudios destinados a analizar el desacoplamiento entre la economía y el transporte de mercancías por carretera comparando las tendencias recientes entre 1999 y 2007 del ratio ton-km/PIB en dos países europeos ?España y Reino Unido? para identificar los principales factores que han propiciado las diferencias observadas. Para ello, se analiza la evolución de la estructura productiva y de las intensidades de transporte por carretera de las industrias de cada país, para posteriormente cuantificar como han contribuido los cambios experimentados en cada variable al desacoplamiento mediante un análisis de descomposición. Los resultados muestran cómo la restructuración de la economía de estos países ha contribuido a desvincular el transporte del crecimiento económico, y que los cambios en las intensidades de transporte, derivados en gran parte de mejoras logísticas y cambios estructurales, han tenido un efecto mucho más notable en Reino Unido ? a pesar de que se observan tendencias comunes entre ambos países que han promovido el desacoplamiento, como son las reducciones de las distancias de recorrido?

Interregional Trade Changes in Spain Caused by the Introduction of a Road Fee-Charge for Heavy Goods Vehicles

SUMMARY The introduction of a homogeneous road charging system according to the Directive 2011/76/EU for the use of roads is still under development in most European Union (EU) member states. Spain, like other EU members, has been encouraged to introduce a charging system for Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGVs) throughout the country. This nationwide charge has been postponed because there are serious concerns about their advantages from an economic point of view. Within this context, this paper applies an integrated modeling approach to shape elastic trade coefficients among regions by using a random utility based multiregional InputOutput (RUBMRIO) approach and a road transport network model in order to determine regional distributive and substitutive economic effects by simulating the introduction of a distance-based charge (€/km) considering 7,053.8 kilometers of free highways linking the capitals of the Spanish regions. In addition, an in-depth analysis of interregional trade changes is developed to evaluate and characterize the role of the road charging approach in trade relations among regions and across freight intensive economic sectors. For this purpose, differences in trade relations are described and assessed between a base-case or "do nothing" scenario and a road fee-charge setting scenario. The results show that the specific amount of the charge set for HGVs affect each region differently and to a different extent because in some regions the price of commodities and the Generalized Transport Cost will decrease its competiveness within the country

Fostering English-taught higher education programs in a Spanish university: the "TechEnglish" innovative project

In recent years, coinciding with adjustments to the Bologna process, many European universities have attempted to improve their international profile by increasing course offerings in English. According to the Institute of International Education (IIE), Spain has notably increased its English-taught higher education programs, ranking fifth in the list of European countries by number of English-taught Master's programs in 2013. This article presents the goals and preliminary results of an on-going innovative education project (TechEnglish) that aims to promote course offerings in English at the Technical University of Madrid (Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, UPM). The UPM is the oldest and largest of all Technical Universities in Spain. It offers graduate and postgraduate programs that cover all the engineering disciplines as well as architecture. Currently, the UPM has no specific bilingual/multilingual program to promote teaching in English, although there is an Educational Model Whitepaper (with a focus on undergraduate degrees) that promotes the development of activities like an International Semester or a unique shared curriculum. The TechEnglish project is an attempt to foster courses taught in English at 7 UPM Technical Schools, including students and 80 faculty members. Four tasks were identified: (1) to design a university wide framework to increase course offerings, (2) to identify administrative difficulties, (3) to increase visibility of courses offered, and (4) to disseminate the results of the project. First, to design a program we analyzed existing programs at other Spanish universities, and other projects and efforts already under way at the UPM. A total of 13 plans were analyzed and classified according to their relation with students (learning), professors (teaching), administration, course offerings, other actors/institutions within the university (e.g., language departments), funds and projects, dissemination activities, mobility plans and quality control. Second, to begin to identify administrative and organizational difficulties in the implementation of teaching in English, we first estimated the current and potential course offerings at the undergraduate level at the UPM using a survey (student, teacher and administrative demand, level of English and willingness to work in English). Third, to make the course offerings more attractive for both Spanish and international students we examined the way the most prestigious universities in Spain and in Europe try to improve the visibility of their academic offerings in English. Finally, to disseminate the results of the project we created a web page and a workspace on the Moodle education platform and prepared conferences and workshops within the UPM. Preliminary results show that increasing course offerings in English is an important step to promote the internationalization of the University. The main difficulties identified at the UPM were related to how to acknowledge/certify the departments, teachers or students involved in English courses, how students should register for the courses, how departments should split and schedule the courses (Spanish and English), and the lack of qualified personnel. A concerted effort could be made to increase the visibility of English-taught programs offered on-line

Análisis de las variables explicativas del descoplamiento del crecimiento económico y de la demanda de transporte de mercancías por carretera en Europa a través de un modelo Input-Output

Tradicionalmente, la demanda de transporte de mercancías por carretera ha estado íntimamente ligada al crecimiento económico, lo que ha hecho que variables económicas agregadas como el PIB hayan sido ampliamente utilizadas para construir modelos de previsión de demanda de tráfico. Sin embargo, en los últimos años, algunas evidencias empíricas han demostrado cómo, en diversos países, el volumen de demanda de transporte se mantenía estable o disminuía incluso bajo escenarios de expansión económica. Estas evidencias han originado que estas situaciones de desacoplamiento entre la economía y el transporte, concretamente entre el transporte de mercancías por carretera, hayan sido entendidas como una oportunidad de promover el desarrollo sostenible del transporte disminuyendo con ellas la gran cantidad de externalidades a las que da lugar el tráfico de camiones. Por ello, uno de los objetivos que ha fijado la Unión Europea ha sido el de reforzar estas tendencias mediante el desarrollo e implantación de diferentes estrategias y políticas de desacoplamiento. En este contexto, esta tesis doctoral tiene como principal objetivo mejorar el conocimiento actual en la explicación de la evolución de la demanda de transporte de mercancías en Europa a lo largo del tiempo, y en concreto, identificar los principales factores y variables que son capaces de originar tendencias de desacoplamiento del transporte por carretera y el desarrollo económico. Esto puede ayudar a sentar las bases para definir las estrategias sostenibles de transporte más apropiadas en este ámbito. La investigación realiza un análisis macroeconómico del tráfico por carretera a nivel nacional a través de una metodología que integra tablas Inputs-Output con variables descriptivas de los sistemas de transporte de cada país. Desarrolla a su vez un análisis comparativo de las tendencias seguidas en diferentes países de la Unión Europea y de los niveles de desacoplamiento alcanzados con el objetivo de dar las razones que han dado lugar a las semejanzas y diferencias encontradas en el pasado. Traditionally, there has been an historic correlation between transport growth and the economy. As a consequence of that trend, aggregate economic variables such as Gross Domestic Product (GDP) have been the mostly applied to explain freight transport demand and to develop forecasting analysis. However, last years revealed how freight transport has remained stable or even declined under economic growth scenarios in some countries. These evidence have led to decoupling between road freight transport and the economic growth, which has been understood as an opportunity for boosting sustainable development by the reduction of the environmental impacts of road transport. With this aim in mind, among the proposal of other measures, one of the key challenges of the European Union has been the promotion of strategies aimed at promoting decoupling of road transport growth from economic development. Based on the above considerations, the objective of this thesis is about providing knowledge for explaining road freight traffic demand over time in Europe. The research looks for the key drivers of decoupling in order to lay the foundations for the definition of the most appropriate decoupling strategies. This is particularly relevant for policymakers and transport practitioners. The research involves analysis at the macro level of national road traffic though a methodology based on the application of Input-Output tables together with descriptive variables of the European transport systems and procedures. This also provides a cross-country comparison of several European Union countries in order to find the reason for the similarities and divergences of their past road freight traffic trends and decoupling levels

The small bites technique for closure of abdominal midline incisions — a video vignette

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