This study combines official statistics on freight transportation and emissions to present the long-run development of the use of longer and heavier road vehicles (LHVs), modal split, road freight efficiency, and GHG emissions and air pollution following the increase in the maximum permissible vehicle weight in Sweden in 1990 and 1993. We find that LHVs were quickly incorporated in the vehicle fleet and that road freight efficiency of the largest vehicles increased after the reforms. There was no discernable break in modal split trends as the modal share for road continued its long-run development. We show that road transportation contributes by far the most to emission costs. The composition of the emissions from road freight changed after the weight reforms, with an increasing share of GHG-emissions.

Traffic noise is a widespread problem that adversely affects health and well-being. A key policy question is how the benefit of noise mitigation compares with the cost. This study estimates the benefits of noise mitigation by its capitalization into property values. Using a dataset on properties considered for a noise mitigation programme, I estimate a difference-in-differences model that compares prices of properties receiving a measure to properties ineligible for the programme. Results show that noise mitigation raised property prices by 10–12 percent. The property price benefits exceed programme investment cost with each $1 spent on noise mitigation generating up to $1.7 in benefits.

Despite high ambitions, policies for a modal shift in Europe have largely been unsuccessful. Part of the explanation relates to the inelasticity of freight transport demand. Understanding the demand elasticity of freight transport is important to design and appraise policies for external cost reductions in the transport sector. There have been many studies focused on estimating the elasticity of demand for short-sea shipping, a mode which policy makers have often aimed to strengthen to facilitate a modal shift from road freight. The objective of this review is to build upon the available literature by presenting and comparing estimated elasticities and to demonstrate the state of evidence through the application of two methodological approaches. Our review shows that there is a surprising degree of variation in elasticity estimates, part of which can likely be explained by differing methodological approaches. Applying a deterministic cost-minimising freight transport model and a stochastic multinomial logit approach based on responses from the Swedish Cargo Flow Survey, we demonstrate the inelasticity of Swedish maritime freight flows and provide suggestions for future research and policy discussions. For future studies of maritime transport demand elasticities to arrive at reliable and policy-relevant results, we highlight the need for combined and pluralistic methodological approaches and an increased use of real-world data.

This study analyzes how information about noise pollution impacts neighborhood composition and households' choice of housing quality. I find that the announcement of a renewal of an airport operating contract induced high-income households to shift away from the zone exposed to airport noise. High-income households who still located in the airport noise zone post-announcement selected homes of better quality. These results help reconcile mixed findings on residential sorting in the literature.