The Impact of Structural Reforms and Regulations on the Demand Side in the Railway Industry

摘要

The main purpose of this study is to evaluate factors affecting passengerrail demand, with special attention to the effects of structural reform/regulationand competition. In order to do this,we use data obtained from30 OECD countriesfor the 24 years from 1990 to 2013. As structural reform/regulation and competitionvariables, we take the OECD’s five kinds of regulatory indices: (i) overall,(ii) entry, (iii) public ownership, (iv) vertical integration, and (v) market structure;and for competition variables, we take (vi) rail passenger-freight ratio, (vii)rail share, and (viii) high-speed train ratio. As estimation methods, both the fixedeffect model and the Hausman-Taylor estimation model are used. The major findingsare as follows. First, competition as competitiveness (i.e. the share of rail,passenger over freight ratio) increases passenger demand. And the existence ofhigh-speed trains increases passenger demand. Second, overall, entry regulation,and market structure have no significant effect on demand. Third, publicownership affects passenger demand positively. Last, vertical integration reducespassenger demand.