MPE_QUAM Quantitative Methods in Transport

Faculty of Economics and Administration
Spring 2019
Extent and Intensity
0/0/0. 6 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
Teacher(s)
Dr. Andrew Smith (lecturer), Mgr. Hana Fitzová, Ph.D. (deputy)
Dr. Phill Wheat (lecturer), Mgr. Hana Fitzová, Ph.D. (deputy)
Mgr. Hana Fitzová, Ph.D. (assistant)
Ing. Monika Jandová, Ph.D. (assistant)
Ing. Michal Kvasnička, Ph.D. (assistant)
Ing. Tomáš Paleta, Ph.D. (assistant)
Guaranteed by
prof. Ing. Zdeněk Tomeš, Ph.D.
Department of Economics – Faculty of Economics and Administration
Contact Person: Mgr. Jarmila Šveňhová
Supplier department: Department of Economics – Faculty of Economics and Administration
Timetable of Seminar Groups
MPE_QUAM/01: Mon 11. 3. 10:00–13:50 S313, Tue 12. 3. 10:00–13:50 S313, Wed 13. 3. 10:00–13:50 S313
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
The capacity limit for the course is 24 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/24, only registered: 0/24, only registered with preference (fields directly associated with the programme): 0/24
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
This course will introduce students to the economics and econometrics of demand, cost and efficiency analysis, supported by transport / network industry applications. It develops the technical and empirical aspects underpinning some of the more general policy material covered in “European railway policy” (MPE_ERPO).
The first part focuses on empirical analysis of transport demand. This will focus on aggregate demand modelling (as opposed to discrete choice). The importance of robust demand analysis and forecasting from the operator and policy maker perspective will be considered. Then the econometric issues and methods relevant to aggregate demand analysis will be explored. These include appropriate datasets in terms of observations over time/cross section (cross sectional, time series and panel data) and types of units to observe (station to station flows, route level data or operator level data for example), as well as static and dynamic econometric models. A focus of the practical benefit and limitation of each approach will be considered.
The second part shifts the emphasis to cost analysis, covering the economic principles of regulatory and competition policy, econometric cost function analysis, and methods for measuring the relative efficiency of regulated firms and the efficiency impacts of market opening and regulatory reforms.
Learning outcomes
Students will be able:
- Building on classical demand theory, specify a model for transport demand and evaluate likely omitted factors from transport demand applications
- Understand the policy and operator need for robust demand forecasts
- Evaluate the appropriateness of different data sets for transport demand analysis
- Implement a range of econometric techniques to model aggregate demand data
- Identify the economic principles underlying and the properties of cost/production functions
- Explain the regulatory and competition policy motivation for cost analysis
- Apply econometric techniques to cost/production analysis (e.g. COLS; SFA)
- Determine measurement of the extent of inefficient behaviour of firms
- Understand the links between econometric techniques and policy
Syllabus
  • • Theory of demand and how it relates to the challenges in transport
  • • The common datasets available for aggregated transport demand analysis
  • • Econometric techniques appropriate for analysis of aggregate transport demand
  • • Theory and properties of production and cost functions
  • • Approaches to efficiency analysis (COLS; SFA)
  • • Regulatory and competition policy applications of techniques
  • • Practical sessions (using Excel)
Literature
  • COELLI, Tim. An introduction to efficiency and productivity analysis. 2nd ed. New York: Springer, 2005, xvii, 349. ISBN 0387242651. info
Teaching methods
The course comprises six one and half hour lecture style sessions with practical examples included within. A question set will be given to students to be completed after the course has been delivered. It is expected that submissions will be no more than 2000 words.
Assessment methods
A question set will be given to students to be completed after the course has been delivered. It is expected that submissions will be no more than 2000 words.
Language of instruction
English
Further Comments
Study Materials
The course is taught annually.
The course is also listed under the following terms Autumn 2016, Autumn 2017, Autumn 2021.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2019, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/econ/spring2019/MPE_QUAM