Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is often used by regulators to create a pseudo-competitive environment for sectors with natural monopolies. In addition to develop a theoretically well-behaved model, regulators need to take into account several other factors, such as the political agenda and the...

New and alternative delimitations of price zones for Central Western Europe (CWE) might constitute a mid-term solution to cope with the increasing congestion in the electricity transmission grids. The significantly growing infeed from renewable energy sources puts more and more pressure on the...

With Germany's nuclear phase-out, 23 reactors need to be dismantled in the near future. Initiated by the dire financial situation of the affected utilities in 2014, a major discourse on ensuring financial liability led to a redistribution of liabilities and finances, with the utilities remaining...

Lack of transmission capacity hampers the integration of the European electricity market, and thereby precludes reaping the full benefits of competition. We investigate the extent to which transmission grid expansion promotes competition, efficiency and welfare. This work proposes a three-stage...

The transformation of the European energy system requires substantial investment in transmission capacity to facilitate cross-border trade and to efficiently integrate renewable energy sources. However, network planning in the EU is still mainly a national prerogative. In contrast to other...

Linearity and separability assumptions are pervasive in most not-for-profit governance and performance measurement systems. In this paper, we employ both parametric and nonparametric econometric methodologies to test the linearity and separability assumptions using data collected from the...

Theories of regulation have generally been tested by using a regression approach or an an event study approach. This paper was inspired by the Coase (1937) theory of the firm. It used Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to test the economic consequences of the Occupational Health and Safety...

Accounting texts rarely devote adequate attention to the political process of accounting standards setting. Usually the subject is addressed, if at all, only in a graduate seminar, and many students get through business programs with a rather hazy idea about Generally Accepted Accounting...

This article explores the economic characteristics of the Italian gas storage system. Microeconomic and qualitative methods are used to shed light on past, present and forecasted trends. Notwithstanding the entrenched stagnation of the sector, the analysis highlights a break in trends. The...

The paper investigates the organization of the Italian water sector in the light of the reforms of public utilities. The aim is to examine the degree of implementation of the water sector reform (the so-called Galli Law of 1994) and assess the performance of operators through a study of their...