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Economics

Semester 1

INFORMATION FOR STUDENTS

• This coursework is a take-home assessment.

• Essay length: 1,250 – 1,500 words (not including appendices/bibliography)

• There are 100 marks in total.

• This essay is an opportunity for you to reinforce your learning on a topic/s that you

have encountered in semester 1 and also to practice the skills that you will need to

complete the coursework assessment in semester 2. It will be used by your teacher

to give you feedback on how you are progressing on the course and will partly form

the basis of your predicted grade.

• All references should be acknowledged using the Harvard referencing system.

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Background

According to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change there are

over 1 billion vehicles on the world’s roads and it predicts this to double by 2040. (UN

2019)

The vast majority of these cars are owned and driven by people in cities. More than half

the world’s population live in cities and by 2030 it is estimated that this will rise to 60%

and this growth puts pressure on the available land space available.

Inevitably this growth in cities has placed great pressure on urban transportation systems.

People who live and work in city regions have to face increasing levels of congestion and

delays as well as the possibility of suffering travel accidents and in the worst cases of

these, loss of life. (Dietz 2019) According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) global

deaths as a result of road traffic accidents are 1.35 million per year with more than half

of these being pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists. (WHO 2018). The WHO also

reported that in 2015 road traffic accidents were the biggest single cause of cause of death

of young people aged 5-29 years. These adverse health effects are not confined to

accidents but as great a concern is the effect on physical well-being of the pollution caused

by urban vehicles. In 2015 the WHO reports that pollution from urban transport caused

an average loss of 9 months of life expectancy and 482 000 premature deaths per year in

the European Region and that the economic cost of these health effects was valued at

more than US$ 1.2 trillion per year.

In addition to all these problems is the urgent need now to cut down on the considerable

contribution that transport makes to the emissions of the greenhouse gases that are

responsible for causing climate change.

Across the world policy makers are urgently seeking to implement policies that not only

will deal with the need to deliver sustainable transport systems to meet overall climate

change goals but also that will deliver safer, healthier and more convenient transport

systems for people in cities.

Sources

UNFCC (2019) Sustainable Transport Key to Tackling the Climate Crisis

https://unfccc.int/news/sustainable-transport-crucial-for-tackling-the-climate-crisis

[accessed 21/03/2021]

Goetz A.R. (2019) Transport Systems in rapidly growing cities-Is there magic bullet,

Transport Reviews 39, Taylor and Francis Online,

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01441647.2019.1654201

[accessed 21/03/2021]

WHO (2015) Health and Transport 2020

https://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0020/324641/Health-2020-Transportand-health-en.pdf%3Fua%3D1

[accessed 21/03/2021]

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Coursework Title

Apply relevant economic theory to explain how, and analyse why, urban transport systems

are failing to deliver efficient market outcomes.

Evaluate the range of policy options that could be used to ensure efficient and sustainable

urban transport systems in the future.

(100 marks)

To access the full mark range, you should be able to

• demonstrate clear knowledge and understanding of the market failures

associated with current urban transport systems

• clearly apply relevant economic concepts, theories and models to the case of

market failure in urban transport

• provide relevant and precise economic analysis to highlight how and why there is

market failure in urban transport

• provide evaluative judgements on the policy options which may address the

market failure of urban transport systems

An initial list of suggested sources:

You can look at the three sources listed above in the context of the essay title to see from

where the information was derived.

Gillespie A.R., (2019), Foundations in Economics, 5

th Ed. Oxford University Press

Chapter 8 is the most useful but also Chapter 9 gives you some ideas of government

intervention in general and problems of government intervention

CGP Books (2020), A-Level Economics Complete Revision & Practice, Coordination

Group Publications Ltd.

(Pages 74-77)

Friends of the Earth (2021) Climate emergency: How do local authorities get people

out of their cars?

https://policy.friendsoftheearth.uk/opinion/climate-emergency-how-do-local-authoritiesget-people-out-their-cars

[accessed 21/03/2021]

European Union (2018) From infrastructure costs to health and environmental impacts -

European Commission shares first findings on the true costs of EU transport,

https://ec.europa.eu/transport/themes/logistics/news/2018-12-17-costs-of-eutransport_en

[accessed 21/03/2021]

World Health Organisation (2013) Urban Transport and Health- A sourcebook for policy

makers in the developing world,

https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789241502443

[accessed 21/03/2021