toll roads are usually justified by the idea of user fees -- if you're using a resource like a toll road, you should pay for it, for its wear & tear -- or by the idea of congestion: if you drive on the road, you impose congestion costs on others and should pay. One reason to bring them is that it's may be hard politically to raise gasoline taxes which are often seen as user fees on road use. Also, some businesses want to gain by running toll roads for profit (privatization), as in Orange County, CA. However, my prediction is that such private toll roads eventually become government-owned or highly regulated, effectively becoming quasi-statal. High fixed costs and large external effects encourage this result. To the extent that toll roads are a substitute for public mass transit, they're definitely regressive.
(my two kopeks.) Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] & http://myweb.lmu.edu/jdevine > -----Original Message----- > From: PEN-L list [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Bill Lear > Sent: Wednesday, October 06, 2004 11:32 AM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: Re: [PEN-L] Toll roads > > > Hellooooo, economists of the progressive stripe? Why no interest in > the fairness toll roads? We here in Austin, TX are getting toll roads > out the wazoo, to put it delicately, and I need some help, any of > which would be appreciated. > > > Bill >
