The setting of user prices for enterprises with large fixed costs and marginal costs below average costs - "natural monopolies" - raises important policy questions regarding both efficiency and equity. It has become well accepted among economists that, in a variety of settings, welfare may be...

Naturally monopolistic network industries are subject to regulation of access to market and charging in order to achieve optimal use of infrastructure and avoid the abuse of monopoly power. Relatively little is known what results does such regulation generate and whether it achieves objectives....

Track access charges are the main driver of infrastructure costs for rail operators in the rail transport sector, accounting for up to 88 percent of costs. This paper analyzes track access charges of 28 EU countries with the respective trajectories of the company forms employing panel...

Railways restructuring takes place under very different circumstances and with very different goals in Western Europe, Central and Eastern Europe, and Russia. Observed improvements in productivity associated with vertical access and vertical separation in Western Europe are not certain to be...