Transport Policy and the Environment

Transport, in particular the motor vehicle, is a major source of environmental disruption and, in the developed world, accounts for thirty percent of energy consumption. In most countries, transport policy is a major government concern, yet it is rare for decisions to be made outside a narrow set of sectoral considerations.

This book, commissioned by the OECD, looks at seven countries; the UK, the USA, West Germany, France, The Netherlands, Greece and Italy. Each case demonstrates, in different ways, the problems in transport policies produced by the failure is a consequence of departmental division: transport, the environment, the exchequer, etc. all have their own, quite separate ministries. Here, a group of economists have demonstrated both the folly of such partial ways of thinking and, in writing their critiques of specific disaster, have provided models for ways forward. Originally published in 1990

Kenneth Button