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TRIMIS

Optimal Transport Networks in Spatial Equilibrium

PROJECTS
Funding
European
European Union
Duration
-
Status
Ongoing
Geo-spatial type
Infrastructure Node
Total project cost
€887 500
EU Contribution
€887 500
Project Acronym
OPTNETSPACE
STRIA Roadmaps
Infrastructure (INF)
Transport mode
Multimodal icon
Transport policies
Societal/Economic issues
Transport sectors
Passenger transport,
Freight transport

Overview

Call for proposal
ERC-2018-STG
Link to CORDIS
Background & Policy context

Every year, the world economy invests a large amount of resources to improve or develop transport infrastructure. How should these investments be allocated to maximize social welfare? In this proposal, I propose to develop and apply new methods to study optimal transport networks in general-equilibrium models of international trade, urban economics and economic geography. The methodology will build on recent work (Fajgelbaum and Schaal, 2017), in which my co-author and I studied the network design problem in a general neoclassical trade framework.

Objectives

In the first project, I develop a new framework to analyse optimal infrastructure investment in an urban setting. The model features people commuting between residential areas and business districts as well as a choice over the mode of transportation. We plan to evaluate the framework to historical data about specific cities.

In the second project, I propose and implement a new algorithm to compute optimal transport networks in the presence of increasing returns to transport, a likely prominent feature of real-world networks. The algorithm applies a branch-and-bound method in a series of geometric programming relaxations of the problem.

In the third project, I study the dynamic evolution of actual transport networks using satellite data from the US, India and Mexico. In the spirit of Hsieh and Klenow (2007), I use the model to measure distortions in the placement of roads between rich and poor countries.

In the fourth project, I study the inefficiencies and welfare losses associated with political economy frictions among governments and planning agencies. I use the model to identify inefficiencies and relate them to measures of institutions and political outcomes.

In the final project, I propose a new explanation behind the Zipf’s law distribution of city sizes. I show that Zipf’s law may result from particular topological properties of optimal transport networks that allocate resources efficiently in space.

Funding

Specific funding programme
H2020-EU.1.1.
Other Programme
ERC-2018-STG ERC Starting Grant

Partners

Lead Organisation
Organisation
Centre De Recerca En Economia Internacional (Crei)
Address
RAMON TRIAS FARGAS 25/27, 08005 BARCELONA, Spain
Organisation website
EU Contribution
€887 500

Technologies

Technology Theme
Infrastructure management
Technology
Decision Support Tools for infrastructure management
Development phase
Research/Invention

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