Cost structure and productivity growth in European railway systems

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is threefold: first, to empirically investigate the coststructure of the railway systems in ten European Countries (Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and the United Kingdom) of the European Union, second to provide measures of economies (diseconomies) of scale and fully investigate the manner by which economies of scale have affected the cost structure of the system and have been affected by the growth in input prices and technology, and third, to measure economic efficiency and identify its sources. In achieving this purpose, the translog technology has been used and the translog model was estimated using time-series data covering the period 1969-1993. Zellner's iterative method was used in estimating the translog model.