The aim of this book is to offer a comprehensive overview of the economics of ports for scientists, students and professionals. The text is divided into five self-contained parts: the first chapter defines the demand for port services using an econometric approach. The second part analyzes the provision of port services using the production, cost, investment and profit functions of various ports. The third part combines the two previous parts in order to propound a general equilibrium approach. The fourth part looks at regulation, efficiency and the existence of ports as natural monopolies. Finally, the fifth part uses Cost Benefit Analysis for an economic evaluation of the feasibility of building new ports or enlarging existing ones.

Inhalt
Demand.- to Essays on Port Economics.- Port Marketing Strategies and the Challenges of Maritime Globalization.- Contextual Port Development: A Theoretical Approach.- The Conditioned Demands of General Merchandise, Dry Bulk and Liquid Bulk Sea Transport.- Determinants of the Demand of International Maritime Transport.- The Demand for Maritime Transport: A Nonlinearity and Chaos Study.- Supply.- Productivity in Maritime Transportation.- Analysis of the Returns to Scale, Elasticities of Substitution and Behavior of Shipping (General Cargo) Production.- Returns to Scale, Elasticities of Substitution and Behavior of Shipping (Dry Bulk) Transport Costs, Some Empirical Evidence.- Cycles in the Ship Building Industry: An Empirical Evidence.- Port Economic Impact.- A Methodological Discussion on Port Economic Impact Studies and Their Possible Applications to Policy Design.- An Approach to the Contribution of the Port System.- The Economic Impact of Ports: Its Importance for the Region and Also the Hinterland.- The Effect of Port Infrastructures on Regional Production.- Regulation and Economic, Technical and Allocative Efficiency.- Bootstrapped Technical Efficiency of African Seaports.- Impact of New Technology on Port Administration.- Excess Capacity, Economic Efficiency and Technical Change in a Public-Owned Port System: An Application to the Infrastructure Services of Spanish Ports.- Analysis of Technical Efficiency and Rate of Return on Investment in Ports.- Cost Benefit Analysis and Externalities.- A CostBenefit Analysis of a New Container Terminal.- Evaluation of Port Externalities: The Ecological Footprint of Port Authorities.