Following a successful colloquium, the Faculty Council of the Department of Economics at the University of Münster has granted Dr. Jan Wessel the authorization to teach (venia docendi) for economics. The IVM congratulates Dr. Jan Wessel and is happy that he will continue to be involved in the IVM as a private lecturer.

In 2023, 1.85 million conventional bicycles and 2.1 million electric bicycles (“e-bike”) were sold in Germany making it the first year in which more e-bikes were sold than conventional bicycles. This trend indicates a growing preference for e-bikes among consumers, so that it is important to study whether increasing sales would also translate into increasing usage of e-bikes. In their new article "Electrifying choices: How electric bicycles impact on mode choice and CO2 emissions", Thomas Hagedorn, Marlena Meier and Jan Wessel analyze (i) the influence of e-bike ownership on transport mode choice and (ii) how a change in e-bike ownership affects CO2 emissions in Germany. Using longitudinal data from household surveys from 2016 to 2022, we first conduct a trip-level analysis with a mixed multinomial logit model (MMNL model) to estimate mode choice probabilities. The results show that the change in e-bike ownership significantly affects travel behavior, by increasing the likelihood of choosing an e-bike as means of transportation by 14.6 percentage points (p.p.), while correspondingly decreasing the likelihood of choosing other modes, especially conventional bicycles by 5.6 p.p, as well as car and public transportation by about 4 p.p each. Second, by using observed changes in individual distances traveled and transport-mode-specific emissions values, we calculate net emissions savings per person after acquiring an e-bike. These savings amount to 526.9 kg CO2 per person and year, which is roughly 6.6% of the average annual total CO2 emissions per capita in Germany. The article is published in Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment.

Thank you for the kind feedback on the module "Advanced Transport Economics", which led to a podium position in the Master's Teaching Price

A speed limit for highways is a highly emotional issue in Germany. Economists should contribute methodologically sound facts. In his new commentary, Gernot Sieg considers which aspects of a cost-benefit analysis for a speed limit by Goessling et al (2023) could be improved. The commentary was recently published in the journal Ecological Economics Link to comment.