Essays on Transport Economics

An analysis of the history of economic thought reveals that transport and econ- ics have always gone hand-in-hand. Many methodological developments in e- nomic theory have emerged from the sphere of transport; Jules Dupuit (1849) and Arthur C. Pigou (1912), for example, proposed price setting in transport inf- structures, particularly on congested roads. This issue is referred to in economic literature as optimum price setting and is still the subject of much attention even today. It is difficult to imagine how the transcendental change in economic dev- opment brought about by the industrial revolution would have occurred without the invention of the railway. Today's "e;new economics"e;, which is for some an - novative concept in economic science, is also closely linked to transport. However, not only is transport present in the entire economic tissue, it is also a key element in individual behaviour, revealed in decisions about work, place of residence and location of companies, among others. One characteristic of transport is that it is a service that can also be used as an intermediary factor in the production process or form part of final household c- sumption. Studies on this sector therefore have a number of dimensions. As it encompasses a number of branches of economic theory, the study of transport from an economic point of view is an ideal test bench for applying the methodological developments of economic science to the real world.