Network Industries and Social Welfare


Book Description

This book offers a careful scrutiny of energy and telephony reforms and their social impact on households in 15 countries across Western Europe. It concludes that the benefits for consumers are limited and it discusses the reasons why the European reform experiment of network industries is not living up to its promises.




Europe's Network Industries


Book Description

This report is the first in a new series, Monitoring European Deregulation (MED), launched by CEPR and SNS Förlag in 1997. The MED Reports feature new, policy-oriented research on the liberalization of the European markets of the major 'network industries:' telecommunications, energy, air transportation, rail, and water. Addressed to a wide audience of both academics and European decisionmakers in the private-sector and policy communities, at both the national and EU level, the series will play an important role in informing the policy debate and influencing current thinking on these issues.




The Reform of Network Industries


Book Description

Network industries such as electricity, gas, rail, local public transport, telecommunications and postal services are recognised by the EU as crucial for fostering European social and territorial cohesion. Providing an overview of key policy reforms in these industries and an empirical evaluation, this thought-provoking book offers a critical perspective on the functioning of the networks that provide vital services to EU citizens.




Privatisation Against the European Social Model


Book Description

This book presents a comprehensive overview and critical analysis of the processes of liberalization and privatization, and their consequences for economic performance, social cohesion and political democracy in the European Union. It examines the main drivers and the various theoretical rationales for privatisation in the context of different schools of thinking. It argues on the basis of broad empirical evidence that privatisation in Europe, particularly the ongoing privatization of social services, undermines the basic elements of the different social models that have developed in Europe. These arguments are supported by a number of in-depth case studies, with specific focus on health care, education and finance. The authors of this volume advance from this critique and explore the basic requirements for a progressive public sector and its role for economic, social and democratic development. This book will be indispensable reading for all interested in Economic Policy, Public Sector Economics, European Integration and Political Science.




Integrating EuropeÕs Infrastructure Networks


Book Description

This timely book explores the long-standing process of infrastructural integration across Europe, with a particular focus on the EU member states. It illuminates the main economic infrastructure sectors, including transport, energy and information, examining how the process of infrastructural integration reflects an alignment of the needs of the states that are the main drivers behind this process.




The Routledge Companion to Network Industries


Book Description

In recent decades, network industries around the world have gone through periods of de- and re-regulation. With vast amounts of sometimes conflicting research carried out into specific network industries, the time has come for a critical over-arching assessment of this entire industry in order to provide a platform of understanding to aid future research and practice. This comprehensive resource provides an orientation for academics, policy makers and managers as to the main economic, regulatory and commercial challenges in the network industries. The book is split into sections covering market, policy, regulation, management perspectives, whilst all of the key network industries are covered, including energy, transport, water and telecommunications. Overseen by world-class Editors and experts in the field, this inter-disciplinary resource is essential reading for students and researchers in international business, industrial economics and the industries.




The Governance of Network Industries


Book Description

This book addresses critical issues in the governance of network industries in terms of institutional design, technology and policy. Infrastructures are subject to substantial readjustments of governance structures, often labeled as liberalization, privatization or reregulation. This affects all traditional infrastructure sectors including communications, energy, transport and water. This volume highlights and illustrates some of the major challenges for readjusting the governance of network industries from an economic, institutional, political and technological perspective. The three parts of the book address the institutional design of infrastructures, the role of technology in different sectors, and actor behavior. Adopting a multidisciplinary perspective, this book will appeal to economists and political scientists with an interest in the management of network industries. It will also be of great value to policy-makers and regulators in the field.




Competition and Regulation in Network Industries


Book Description

While particularly dynamic and innovative, the digital and telecommunication industries are found to have a great tendency towards concentration, resulting in strong market power and raising concerns from competition and regulatory authorities. In this study focusing on such network industries, Jean-Marc Zogheib explores the interplay between public policy and firms' strategies by combining various tools of theoretical economic analysis adopted from industrial economics, network economics, and platform economics. Mr. Zogheib's thesis consists of three distinct essays: the first chapter examines how merger policy affects firms' entry strategies, the second chapter shifts the focus to public intervention by considering how the coexistence of private and public players affects competition and investment, while the third chapter investigates the role of privacy in competition between digital platforms and the importance of consumer data in the competitive analysis of mergers. This book clearly illustrates how economics can contribute essential building blocks to the construction of competitive reasoning and how the integration of competition law into economic models extended their collective utility. An important read for lawyers and economists alike. The book was awarded the inaugural Concurrences PhD Award in Economics.




Towards Competition in Network Industries


Book Description

Competition in network industries faces particular problems which are analyzed from both a theoretical and policy perspective. Issues of vertical integration, deregulation and privatization are covered. While competition and privatization are rapidly unfolding in telecommunications in Western and Eastern Europe, energy and railway transportation represent sectors of more gradual liberalization. The different market characteristics of telecommunications, energy and transportation raise consistency problems in the fields of deregulation, investment strategies and internationalization. While transformation policies create opportunities for liberalization in Eastern Europe and Russia the latter shows critical problems in ending monopoly and state ownership. Network industries could be subject to competition and promise major investment opportunities plus consumer benefits.