The economics and regulation of network industries : telecommunications and beyond / Ingo Vogelsang.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Vogelsang, Ingo, author.

Series:

Cambridge elements. Elements in public economics 2516-2276

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Public utilities--Economic aspects.

Public utilities.

Public utilities--Standards.

Public utilities--Government policy.

Information networks--Economic aspects.

Information networks.

Information networks--Standards.

Information networks--Government policy.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (85 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2021.

Summary:

Have you ever wondered how your telephone company or Internet service provider can give you access to almost all people in the world, or how electricity suppliers can compete with each other if there is only one electric supply line passing through your street? This Element deals with the economics and public regulation of such network industries. It puts particular emphasis on the specific economic concepts used for analyzing them and on the regulatory reform movement and the compatibility of regulation and competition. Worldwide most of these industries have changed dramatically in recent years, telecommunications in particular. Network industries mostly exhibit economies of scale in production and similar economies in consumption. Both of these properties cause market power problems that often require industry-specific regulation. However, due to technological and market changes network policies have moved on from end-user regulation to wholesale regulation and in some cases to deregulation.

Contents:

Cover

Title page

Copyright page

The Economics and Regulation of Network Industries: Telecommunications and Beyond

Contents

1 Introduction

1.1 What Are Network Industries and What Makes Them Interesting Topics in Economics?

1.2 The Relationship between Networks and the Services Provided over Them

1.3 Relevant Economic Policies

1.4 Overview

2 Economic Concepts Associated with Network Industries

2.1 Single-Product Cost Concepts

2.2 Single-Product Natural Monopoly Concepts

2.3 Relevant Concepts for Multiproduct Firms

2.4 Consumer Surplus as Part of a Welfare Measure

2.5 Welfare Benchmarks for Policies

3 Regulatory Approaches Based on Monopoly Provision

3.1 Rate-of-Return Regulation

3.2 Regulation under Asymmetric Information: Incentive Regulation

3.2.1 The Bayesian Approach

3.2.2 Informationally Simple Mechanisms

Tax or Subsidy Mechanisms

Price Cap Mechanisms

Two-part Tariff Mechanisms

Conclusions on Simple Mechanisms

4 The Emergence of Competition and Its Effect on Regulation

4.1 The Issues

4.2 Policy Options for Liberalization

4.3 Vertical Integration vs. Separation

4.4 The Network Access Problem

4.5 Types of Wholesale Access Regulation

4.5.1 Access Pricing under Vertical Separation vs. Integration

4.5.2 The Efficient Component Pricing Rule (ECPR)

4.5.3 "Global" Ramsey Pricing

4.5.4 Sophisticated ECPR

4.5.5 Cost-Based Access Pricing

Modeling Efficient Cost

Too Little Investment: Reversal of Averch-Johnson

Dealing with New Technologies

Conclusions on Cost-Based Pricing

4.5.6 Yardstick Regulation and Benchmarking

4.5.7 Coinvestment

4.6 Vertical Separation

5 From Telecommunications to the Provision of ICT Services

5.1 Termination Monopoly

5.2 Net Neutrality.

5.3 Regulatory Paradigm Changes in Telecommunications and Beyond?

5.4 Empirical Evidence on Telecommunications Policy Outcomes

Mobile Communication

Fixed Networks

The Impact of Regulation on Investment in New Infrastructures

Welfare Effects of New Infrastructures

5.5 Political Economy and Behavioral Aspects of Telecommunications Regulation

6 Deregulation and Competition Policy

6.1 Endgames Leading to Deregulation

6.2 Conditions for Deregulation

6.3 Digital and Fixed-Mobile Convergence as Causes for Deregulation

6.4 New Regulation for New Economy Networks?

7 Conclusions

References

Acknowledgements.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 07 Oct 2021).

ISBN:

1-108-80781-X

1-108-77541-1

OCLC:

1285171124