Do charges to freight trucks and trains in the European Union reflect their social marginal costs? Application to the case of Spain

In the last few years, the European Union (EU) has become greatly concerned about the environmental costs of road transport in Europe as a result of the constant growth in the market share of trucks and the steady decline in the market share of railroads. In order to reverse this trend, the EU is promoting the implementation of additional charges for heavy goods vehicles (HGV) on the trunk roads of the EU countries. However, the EU policy is being criticised because it does not address the implementation of charges to internalise the external costs produced by automobiles and other transport modes such as railroad. In this paper, we first describe the evolution of the HGV charging policy in the EU, and then assess its practical implementation across different European countries. Second, and of greater significance, by using the case study of Spain, we evaluate to what extent the current fees on trucks and trains reflect their social marginal costs, and consequently lead to an allocative-efficient outcome. We found that for the average case in Spain the truck industry meets more of the marginal social cost produced by it than does the freight railroad industry. The reason for this lies in the large sums of money paid by truck companies in fuel taxes, and the subsidies that continue to be granted by the government to the railroads.

Morphogenesis of the Ourense plains:(NW of Spain)

[EN] We present a geomorphological analysis of Ourense Province (NW Spain) characterized by: a general narrowing of the fluvial network, highlands with smooth reliefs partially eroded and lowlands with residual reliefs, several extensive plains of erosion frequently limited by fractures -among which Tertiary grabens are inserted-, some ?Hollow Surface?-type morphology, absence of sedimentary deposits outside the grabens, and a generalized outcrop of the Hercynian Massif substratum. Traditionally, this ?piano?s keyboard morphology? has been interpreted as expression of block tectonics in tensile regimen; instead we suggest the existence of: an isostatic upheaval simultaneous to a sequence of tectonic pulses of compressive regimen with activity in favour of transcurrent faults, a General Surface (R600), several plains that present a ?Hollow Surface?-type morphology (R1600 R1400 R1000), a generalized alteration that correspond to a same process of decomposition associated to fluctuating conditions of redox equilibrium, a erosional terraces related principaly to the palaeo-fluvial nets; moreover, we propose the existence of two morphoestructural lineament: the first one represented by the Fault of Vila Real (NE-SW) -a ramification of the ?Basal Pyrenean Overthrust?-, that would have been active at an early moment of the tectonic sequence with a left transcurrent fault, secondly the lineament represented by the Fault of Maceda (NNW-SSE) that would be related to the ?Fault System NW-SE? and would have produced a right transcurrent fault during a late tectonic pulse.

The young Dominican, or Life in the inquisition : and revelations of the secret societies of Spain /

Mode of access: Internet.

Shakespeare's King Henry V.

Mode of access: Internet.

Annals of the artists of Spain.

"Monograms of artists": v. 3, p.[1449]

Annals of the artists of Spain,

Editor's preface signed: Robert Guy.

Quellenstudien zu Lee's "Mithridates, King of Pontus".

Vita.

The statute law of Kentucky; with notes, prælections, and observations on the public acts. Comprehending also, the laws of Virginia and acts of Parliament in force in this commonwealth; the charter of Virginia, the federal and state constitutions, and so much of the King of England's proclamation in 1763, as relates to the titles to land in Kentucky. Together with a table of reference to the cases adjudicated in the Court of appeals ...

Imprint varies: v. 2-3, Frankfort, (Ken.) Printed for William Hunter, by Johnston & Pleasants. 1810-1811.--v. 4, Frankfort, (Ken.) Printed for William Hunter, by Robert Johnston. 1814.--v. 5, Frankfort, (Ken.) Printed for Butler & Wood. 1819.

Annals of the artists of Spain,

One set of plates is printed on mounted India, and the other on Japan paper

Erklärung des Stammbaumes sämtlicher dreiundfünzig Könige Stephan dem Heiligen bis zu dem gegenwärtig glorreichst regierenden Könige Ferdinand V. : wovon in beinahe tausend Jahren von dem Stammvater Arpad an... /

Mode of access: Internet.

Spanish America : or, A descriptive, historical, and geographical account of the dominions of Spain in the Western hemisphere, continental and insular; illustrated by a map of Spanish North America, and the West-India islands; a map of Spanish South America, and an engraving, representing the comparative altitudes of the mountains in those regions /

Includes index.

Posthumous works of Frederic II, King of Prussia.

"Translated from the French by Thomas Holcroft."

Shakespeare's tragedy of King Richard the Third,

Mode of access: Internet.