Title: Political economy issues of environmentally friendly transport policies

Authors: Piet Rietveld

Addresses: Faculty of Economics, Vrije Universiteit, De Boelelaan 1105, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Abstract: This paper discusses problems of the political and social feasibility of environmentally friendly transport policies. It presents a politico-economic model for this purpose. Special attention is given to the role of voters in the feedback from society to the government. A multidimensional spatial model of voters| preferences is discussed, combined with theories about the way voters| preferences are formed. Empirical illustrations are given for various aspects of voters| attitudes vis a vis transport policies in The Netherlands: (i) the existing inequalities among households in terms of transport-related expenditures and government subsidies; (ii) attitudes of voters on a number of transport policy instruments.

Keywords: environment; equity; political feasibility; politico-economic models; public choice; transport policy; voting; sustainable transport; environmental transport; sustainability; The Netherlands.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEP.1997.028312

International Journal of Environment and Pollution, 1997 Vol.7 No.3, pp.398 - 416

Published online: 16 Sep 2009 *

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