This paper analyzes the nature of and justification for the Universal Service Obligation (USO) and its relationship to the Reserved Area for Postal Service. This is motivated by problems of funding the USO in the face of increasing competition in the postal sector. After reviewing various...

Capital recovery is increasingly important to utilities especially telephone companies when technological change and competitive entry are occurring. In the absence of efficient capital recovery policies companies are going to see their equity eroded. In addition to losses by the companies there...

In the 20 years since the Center for Research in Regulated Industries' Eastern Conference has been in existence there have been numerous changes in regulatory economics and regulation. This paper provides a review of the major changes seen from our own perspective. We review some of the major...

This extensive, state-of-the-art Handbook provides a comprehensive overview of the various experiences of liberalization across different sectors, regions and disciplines.

The peak-load pricing problem for postal service is addressed in practice primarily by means of service differentiation according to class of mail. The authors demonstrate that lower priority mail at peak times helps to ameliorate, but does not eliminate, the peak-load problem. They derive...

This paper examines a three-period model of an investment decision in a network industry characterized by demand uncertainty, economies of scale and sunk costs. In the absence of regulation we identify the market conditions under which a monopolist decides to invest early as well as the overall...

The idea of franchise bidding, as a governance structure for regulating natural monopoly, has remained dormant for the last twenty years, during which the technology and regulation of natural monopoly has changed considerably, both in theory and in practice. Meanwhile, auction theory has...