Local travelers are consolidating road trips and booking flights early as a result of higher gas prices that have economists worried about the affects on the economic recovery if recent spikes continue.
Further increases would lead consumers to cut discretionary spending even as businesses are faced with higher delivery costs. The political turmoil in Libya is getting the blame for the 23-cents-a-gallon hike in gasoline prices nationwide over the past week.
Pursuant to federal regulations governing the renewal of freedom-of-choice waivers, Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) contracted with the Bureau of Economic and Business Research (BEBR) at the University of Florida in order to conduct this independent assessment of Florida’s Non-Emergency Transportation (NET) Waiver. Under this waiver, eligible Floridian Medicaid beneficiaries receive non-emergency transportation from their local Community Transportation Coordinators (CTC) in the Transportation
Disadvantaged (TD) Program.
Among the various uses of history, one is to tell a story. Telling a story involves picking out main themes, weighing competing interpretations of events, and relating what happened, usually in something close to chronological order. That is not what we do here. Another role for history is to provide background on current issues, how we got to where we are, with the belief that understanding how conditions that are of concern developed is a source of insight into creating ways to improve them.
Publication Date:
03/29/2002
Author(s):
Dewey, James F.; Denslow, David; Herndon, Jill Boylston; Irwin, Eve
The purpose of this paper is to survey current literature on the economic impact of the Internet on transportation. To that end we have searched literature across disciplines including sociology, geography, business, and economics that offers potential answers to the following questions: How are companies incorporating Internet technology into their products and business models? How will the Internet change commuter and shipping traffic? By how much? What models are available to predict the impact of the Internet on future transportation patterns?
Publication Date:
03/28/2002
Author(s):
Dewey, James F.; Denslow, Denslow; Herndon, Jill Boylston; Irwin, Eve
Florida’s public highways are congested. At the same time there is excess capacity on private railroads. Further, the social costs of moving a ton-mile of freight—including costs from air pollution, accidents, congestion, and wear on the nation’s transportation system—are lower by rail than by truck for many types of freight movements. Given this situation, should the state design policies to increase utilization of the state’s railroads?
Publication Date:
09/30/2002
Author(s):
Dewey, James F.; Denslow, David; Lenze, David; Irwin, Eve
This paper presents a micro-location model of public investment in pedestrian safety capital. A special case of the model predicts that economies of scale in safety capital can offset the effect of rising population density on the pedestrian fatality rate. Using county level data we confirm this prediction empirically and measure the elasticity of the fatality rate with respect to civil time of sunrise and sunset, sales at bars, highway lane miles, income, climate, and tourism. Pedestrian fatalities on interstate highways are shown to differ from those elsewhere.
This report uses economic analyses and presents relevant information to help policymakers determine why pedestrian fatality rates in Florida exceed those in the rest of the country.
Publication Date:
10/07/2003
Author(s):
Dewey, James F.; Denslow, David; Lenze, David; Irwin, Eve
Intermodal transportation is an increasingly important aspect of Florida’s transportation system, one with the potential to boost the State’s economic development and sustain its environment. As such, intermodalism—the concept behind intermodal transportation—is increasingly drawing attention and consideration from agencies and policy-makers at all levels of government. Intermodalism and intermodal transportation can be ambiguous terms.
The Economic Analysis Program was formed in 2002 through the merger of two longstanding Bureau of Economic and Business Research (BEBR) programs: Forecasting and Policy Studies. Staff members conduct research on a variety of economic issues that have policy implications for the state of Florida. Recent topics have included economic conditions that affect the demand for transportation infrastructure; the relationship between income growth, population growth and regional physical characteristics; regional differences in price level indexes; alternative methods for certifying special educators; and the impact of smoking bans on restaurant sales.
The BEBR Economic Analysis Program receives research contracts from a variety of state and federal agencies and often collaborates with research centers at other universities in Florida. Its research is published regularly in scholarly journals and as technical reports for government agencies. Staff members make presentations on Florida's economy to business, civic and government groups throughout the state and often provide analytical insights to members of the media.
