1. Home
  2. TRID
  3. View Record
https://www.ntro.org.au/

ROADS IN A MARKET ECONOMY

This book is about roads, but it is not only about roads. It is about rights to use and provide roads, and therefore it has to be about rights to use motor vehicles within the accepted frameworks of market economies. Although people fortunate enough to live in market economies are still permitted to buy cars, the rules of the market do not apply to roads, which are generally planned, financed and administered by governments seeking what they perceive to be the public good, rather than by commercial suppliers seeking to please their customers. The methods used in all countries to provide roads are essentially those that failed in the 'command economies' of Eastern Europe, and the results are similar: congestion in some parts of the system, wasted capacity in others, and widespread deterioration and financial losses. The question this book asks is to what extent the concepts of ownership, free prices and voluntary exchange -- concepts that govern the provision and allocation of scarce resources in free societies -- can usefully be applied to roads. The book discussed the possibilities of public roads being privately provided, but its thrust is directed more at the commercialization than the privatization of roads. Commercialization of roads is seen as an objective in its own right, as well as a necessary step on the road to privatization.

  • Availability:
  • Corporate Authors:

    Avebury Technical

    Gower House, Croft Road, Aldershot
    Hampshire GU11 3HR,   England 
  • Authors:
    • Roth, G
  • Publication Date: 1996

Language

  • English

Media Info

  • Features: Figures; References; Tables;
  • Pagination: 292 p.

Subject/Index Terms

Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 00722113
  • Record Type: Publication
  • ISBN: 0291398146
  • Files: TRIS
  • Created Date: Jun 7 1996 12:00AM