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External Costs of Transport in the U.S.

External Costs of Transport in the U.S.

Full Title:  External Costs of Transport in the U.S.
Author(s): M. Delucchi, D. McCubbin
Publisher(s):  n/a
Publication Date: January 1, 2010
Full Text: Download Resource
Description (excerpt):

In this chapter we report estimates of the external costs of transport in the United States. Generally, we cover road, rail, air, and water transport; passenger transport and freight transport; and congestion, accident, air pollution, climate change, noise, water pollution, and energy-security costs. However, we were not able to find estimates for all cost categories; in particular, there are fewer estimates for freight transport than for passenger transport, fewer estimates for water transport than for other modes, and fewer estimates of water pollution costs than of other costs. Table 1 summarizes the quality of estimates in each category.

In our review, negative externalities are the unaccounted for or unpriced costs of an action. This means that they are the result of individual decisions or actions, such as whether to drive or take a train, or freight something by ship or plane, and are related to the explicit prices and unaccounted-for costs of those choices.

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