Incentives and politics: The perverse incentives paradox: root cause of many other paradoxes; the case of the Dutch Betuweroute

The transport system in general, and, more specifically, transport infrastructure projects as part of that system, has major impacts on society. This chapter elaborates on the question as to what extent the results can be transferred to other contexts. Because of the positive decision to build, combined with a lack of understanding of the rationale and no clear and neutral assessment of the pros and cons of the line, many people felt manipulated, although on the positive side, the process also contributed to important improvements in decision-making procedures. This chapter departs from what Samset and Volden refer to as ‘the paradox of perverse incentives’: public investments with no financial obligations for the target group may cause perverse incentives and result in counterproductive projects. It also makes clear that many things went wrong, such as having no clear explanation of the problems the line was supposed to solve, or the related challenges.