Exploring community public budget preferences for transport electrification: Evidence from a contingent budget allocation study in New South Wales, Australia

Abstract

The allocation of funds to different functions of government reflets political priorities that often-run counter to public expectations. In this paper, we adopt a contingent allocation method survey task that requires respondents to distribute a fixed budget across 12 different potential project types. The main goal is to elicit community preferences for the allocation of public funds across a broad array of government functions, with a particular focus on transport electrification projects. Based on a sample of 727 residents from the state of New South Wales, Australia, our findings suggest strong community support for funding healthcare, utility related projects, as well as for funding roads and education. The research goal of the study was, however, to explore support for the electrification of the transport sector, for which, unfortunately, we found little support amongst the community.