A classification for the redistributive effects of investments in transport infrastructure

Abstract

The efficiency of major transport projects in terms of resources should be always a critical factor in decision-making. The method traditionally used to evaluate the socioeconomic profitability of investments in transport infrastructure is cost-benefit analysis. However, efficiency benefits are unevenly distributed among the project’s stakeholders and, in practice, transport infrastructure investment entails a diversity of redistributive effects that are actually relevant in the decision-making process. The reality is that investment decisions are made on the basis of some form of explicit or implicit use of multi-criteria analysis encompassing both the results obtained in the cost-benefit analysis and other policy (or simply political) considerations implying some sort of redistribution. This paper proposes a classification of the differential impacts of major transport infrastructure projects (redistribution effects), including territorial, social, environmental and intergenerational impacts. Its aim is to generate awareness of their existence and to facilitate their consideration in the decision-making process so it becomes more transparent. Redistribution effects, which should be considered alongside the socioeconomic and financial assessment, are seldom reflected in a systematic way in the decisions on major infrastructure investments. The proposed classification should facilitate a more consistent incorporation of these effects in the decision-making process.