Cost Overruns in Large-scale Tranportation Infrastructure Projects: Explanations and their Theoretical Embeddedness
Managing large-scale transportation infrastructure projects is difficult due to frequent misinformation about the costs which results in large cost overruns that often threaten the overall project viability. This paper investigates the explanations for cost overruns that are given in the literature....
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Format: | Journal article |
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2010
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author | Flyvbjerg, B Cantarelli, C Molin, E van Wee, B |
author_facet | Flyvbjerg, B Cantarelli, C Molin, E van Wee, B |
author_sort | Flyvbjerg, B |
collection | OXFORD |
description | Managing large-scale transportation infrastructure projects is difficult due to frequent misinformation about the costs which results in large cost overruns that often threaten the overall project viability. This paper investigates the explanations for cost overruns that are given in the literature. Overall, four categories of explanations can be distinguished: technical, economic, psychological, and political. Political explanations have been seen to be the most dominant explanations for cost overruns. Agency theory is considered the most interesting for political explanations and an eclectic theory is also considered possible. Non-political explanations are diverse in character, therefore a range of different theories (including rational choice theory and prospect theory), depending on the kind of explanation is considered more appropriate than one all-embracing theory. |
first_indexed | 2024-03-07T03:22:46Z |
format | Journal article |
id | oxford-uuid:b7ffa311-42c0-4f34-a9a3-33d83eda0fe2 |
institution | University of Oxford |
last_indexed | 2024-03-07T03:22:46Z |
publishDate | 2010 |
record_format | dspace |
spelling | oxford-uuid:b7ffa311-42c0-4f34-a9a3-33d83eda0fe22022-03-27T04:52:49ZCost Overruns in Large-scale Tranportation Infrastructure Projects: Explanations and their Theoretical Embeddedness Journal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:b7ffa311-42c0-4f34-a9a3-33d83eda0fe2Saïd Business School - Eureka2010Flyvbjerg, BCantarelli, CMolin, Evan Wee, BManaging large-scale transportation infrastructure projects is difficult due to frequent misinformation about the costs which results in large cost overruns that often threaten the overall project viability. This paper investigates the explanations for cost overruns that are given in the literature. Overall, four categories of explanations can be distinguished: technical, economic, psychological, and political. Political explanations have been seen to be the most dominant explanations for cost overruns. Agency theory is considered the most interesting for political explanations and an eclectic theory is also considered possible. Non-political explanations are diverse in character, therefore a range of different theories (including rational choice theory and prospect theory), depending on the kind of explanation is considered more appropriate than one all-embracing theory. |
spellingShingle | Flyvbjerg, B Cantarelli, C Molin, E van Wee, B Cost Overruns in Large-scale Tranportation Infrastructure Projects: Explanations and their Theoretical Embeddedness |
title | Cost Overruns in Large-scale Tranportation Infrastructure Projects: Explanations and their Theoretical Embeddedness |
title_full | Cost Overruns in Large-scale Tranportation Infrastructure Projects: Explanations and their Theoretical Embeddedness |
title_fullStr | Cost Overruns in Large-scale Tranportation Infrastructure Projects: Explanations and their Theoretical Embeddedness |
title_full_unstemmed | Cost Overruns in Large-scale Tranportation Infrastructure Projects: Explanations and their Theoretical Embeddedness |
title_short | Cost Overruns in Large-scale Tranportation Infrastructure Projects: Explanations and their Theoretical Embeddedness |
title_sort | cost overruns in large scale tranportation infrastructure projects explanations and their theoretical embeddedness |
work_keys_str_mv | AT flyvbjergb costoverrunsinlargescaletranportationinfrastructureprojectsexplanationsandtheirtheoreticalembeddedness AT cantarellic costoverrunsinlargescaletranportationinfrastructureprojectsexplanationsandtheirtheoreticalembeddedness AT moline costoverrunsinlargescaletranportationinfrastructureprojectsexplanationsandtheirtheoreticalembeddedness AT vanweeb costoverrunsinlargescaletranportationinfrastructureprojectsexplanationsandtheirtheoreticalembeddedness |