Daniel Hanson, MSc

Mr. Hanson has advised on cases that have gone to the UK Supreme Court (unauthorised overdraft charges), the UK Competition Appeals Tribunal (landmark truck cartel damages litigation and appeal of the CAA’s price control review at Heathrow Airport), arbitration (toll road concession in Central Europe), the UK High Court (judicial review of bus franchising in Manchester), public inquiry (charges for ferries to use a port), adjudications (sampling and extrapolation using the Amey principles), CMA market investigations (audits, car prices, and mobile termination rates), and various price control reviews.

Mr. Hanson has served on expert panels including the Hansford Review, the Economic Advisory Panel to High Speed 2, and the DfT/Highways England Challenge Panel on Road Investment Strategies 2 and 3. He is the independent expert on cost inflation for High Speed 2 (Europe’s largest infrastructure project), advised Transport for London on its funding model post-COVID, and has advised on bids for numerous assets (e.g., High Speed 1, Gatwick Airport, and Eurostar).

Mr. Hanson has helped secure approval for projects worth over $250 billion, including leading the economic advice to the UK Airports Commission and on numerous large and contentious road projects. He has advised governments in the Middle East on the economic impacts of policies, investments, and entire sectors. He has influenced international best practice on economic impact appraisal and is known as one of the principal architects of the regulatory frameworks for High Speed 1 and the Elizabeth Line.

His publications include work on the income elasticity of demand and how it varies depending on economic context, the impact of house prices on economic productivity, social and economic cost benefit analysis (of making buildings infection resilient), the economic impact of dynamic clustering, and the price elasticity of demand.

Mr. Hanson is recognized as a leading expert in transport by Lexology/Who’s Who Legal, including WWL’s Transport Experts 2024 and 2025, which singles out the top transport experts in the market. Mr. Hanson’s clients have noted he has “a superb reputation in the market,” “vast expertise in economics,” and “deep sector knowledge.” They also say that “the clarity and simplicity of his expert reports is impressive” and “his advice has stood the test of time.”

Other testimonials have noted, “Overall, Daniel balances a keen intellect, an excellent command of economics and an impressive industry knowledge. He is a brilliant leader of people and has an exceptional ability to communicate.”

Prior to joining NERA, Mr. Hanson worked for a large consulting firm and led its economic work in the transport and infrastructure sector in the UK. He was also a senior member of the economic practice management team. He is a former fellow of the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) and previously served as an international civil servant at the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), a multilateral institution based in Barbados.