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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Main Authors: Flyvbjerg, B, Cantarelli, C, Molin, E, van Wee, B
Format: Journal article
Published: 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.
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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