About
Daniel Hanson is a highly regarded economist with over 30 years of experience advising clients on a range of complex issues, including disputes and damages claims, competition issues and economic regulation, and cost benefit and economic impact analysis. Mr. Hanson specializes in transport and infrastructure but has advised clients in most sectors of the economy (e.g., financial services, mobile and fixed line telecoms, electricity, water, nuclear, medical research, automotive, retail, audits, geospatial mapping, and crane hire). His cases often include demand analysis and forecasting, cost analysis and forecasting, microeconomics, macroeconomics, econometrics, and statistics. Most of his work has been in the UK, but he has advised on matters around the world.
Mr. Hanson has advised on cases that have gone to the UK Supreme Court (unauthorized 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 advised on the appraisal of projects worth over $250 billion, including leading the economic advice to the UK Airports Commission and on numerous large and contentious road projects. Mr. Hanson has served on numerous expert panels including the Hansford Review. He is the independent expert on cost inflation for High Speed 2 (Europe’s largest infrastructure project) and advised Transport for London on its funding model post-COVID.
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.
Mr. Hanson is recognized as a Thought Leader and a Recommended Expert by Lexology (formerly Who’s Who Legal), which singles out the top transport experts in the market. Mr. Hanson’s clients have noted that “he is an in-depth subject matter expert and trusted advisor who gives clear explanations of complex topics,” “he has vast expertise in economics and deep sector knowledge,”
“the clarity and simplicity of his expert reports is impressive,” “he has excellent stakeholder management skills,” and “his advice has stood the test of time.”
Mr. Hanson has authored numerous publications that delve into various economic topics, including 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.
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.
Education
- MSc in economics, University of Warwick
- BSc in economics, University of Bristol
Highlights
In Who’s Who Legal: Transport 2024 and 2025, Mr. Hanson’s clients recognized:
- His “vast experience in economics;”
- His “deep sector knowledge;"
- His "superb reputation in the market;"
- “The clarity and simplicity of his expert reports is impressive;” and
- “His advice has stood the test of time.”