Distributional effects of public transport subsidies

Public Transport Subsidies and Affordability inMumbai, India

This paper describes the role of public transport and incidence of transport subsidies in Mumbai, India, where public transport is used for over 75% of all motorized trips. On average, expenditure on public transit constitutes a larger share of income for the poor than for the middle class. However, a larger fraction of transit users are middle class. In terms of incidence, the poorest 27% of t...

Targeted Subsidies in Public Transport: Combining Affordability with Financial Sustainability

Public transport systems have to balance financial sustainability with a need to provide affordable services, in particular to lower-income populations. In reality, meeting both goals is difficult, with transport systems either relying on high levels of subsidies or charging transit fares that are too expensive for the city’s poor. This note describes the opportunities associated with the use o...

Salvatore Barbaro The Distributional Impact of Subsidies to Higher Education –

Public Subsidies for Open Source

This paper discusses the economic merits of direct or indirect governmental support for open source projects. Software markets differ from standard textbook markets in three important respects that may give rise to market failures: (i) large economies of scale, (ii) crucially important innovations, (iii) significant network effects and switching costs. We analyze the differences between proprie...

Subsidies in Chilean Public Utilities

This paper makes an analysis of subsidies in Chile’s public utilities. Rates rebalancing have practically eliminated cross subsidies, and current programs are funded from the national budget. Over the last decade in particular, significant efforts have been made to extend public services to rural populations, and a consumption subsidy for potable water currently benefits 17% of the population. ...