IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/regeco/v65y2024i1d10.1007_s11149-023-09470-1.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Bayesian approach to monopoly regulation after 40 years

Author

Listed:
  • Ismail Saglam

    (TOBB University of Economics and Technology)

Abstract

This paper surveys the monopoly regulation literature with the Bayesian approach. The literature builds on Baron and Myerson’s seminal 1982 paper, entitled “Regulating a Monopolist with Unknown Costs.” After presenting their contributions to the regulation literature, the paper discusses the main criticisms of their model, relating to either informational or commitment assumptions about the Bayesian regulator. The paper also briefly reviews some non-Bayesian incentive schemes, price-cap regulation, and several extensions and applications of Baron and Myerson’s regulatory model to highlight the evolution and scope of the new economics of regulation after 40 years.

Suggested Citation

  • Ismail Saglam, 2024. "The Bayesian approach to monopoly regulation after 40 years," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 65(1), pages 108-136, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:regeco:v:65:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1007_s11149-023-09470-1
    DOI: 10.1007/s11149-023-09470-1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11149-023-09470-1
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11149-023-09470-1?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David Besanko & Shabtai Donnenfeld & Lawrence J. White, 1987. "Monopoly and Quality Distortion: Effects and Remedies," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 102(4), pages 743-767.
    2. D. Giannakis & T. Jamasb & M. Pollitt, 2003. "Benchmarking and Incentive Regulation of Quality of Service: an Application to the UK Electricity Distribution Utilities," Working Papers EP35, Energy Policy Research Group, Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge.
    3. David Sappington, 1983. "Optimal Regulation of a Multiproduct Monopoly with Unknown Technological Capabilities," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 14(2), pages 453-463, Autumn.
    4. Rochet, Jean-Charles, 2009. "Monopoly regulation without the Spence-Mirrlees assumption," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(9-10), pages 693-700, September.
    5. Koray, Semih & Sertel, Murat R., 1990. "Pretend-but-perform regulation and limit pricing," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 6(4), pages 451-472.
    6. Sappington, David E M & Sibley, David S, 1988. "Regulating without Cost Information: The Incremental Surplus Subsidy Scheme," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 29(2), pages 297-306, May.
    7. Ayça Kaya, 2010. "When Does It Pay To Get Informed?," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 51(2), pages 533-551, May.
    8. Baron, David P., 1985. "Regulation of prices and pollution under incomplete information," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 211-231, November.
    9. Vogelsang, Ingo, 1988. "A Little Paradox in the Design of Regulatory Mechanisms," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 29(3), pages 467-476, August.
    10. Jean-Jacques Laffont & Jean Tirole, 1990. "Adverse Selection and Renegotiation in Procurement," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 57(4), pages 597-625.
    11. Laffont, Jean-Jacques & Tirole, Jean, 1986. "Using Cost Observation to Regulate Firms," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 94(3), pages 614-641, June.
    12. Jean-Jacques Laffont & Jean Tirole, 1991. "The Politics of Government Decision-Making: A Theory of Regulatory Capture," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 106(4), pages 1089-1127.
    13. Beaudry, Paul, 1994. "Why an Informed Principal May Leave Rents to an Agent," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 35(4), pages 821-832, November.
    14. Myerson, Roger B, 1979. "Incentive Compatibility and the Bargaining Problem," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 47(1), pages 61-73, January.
    15. Tracy R. Lewis & Huseyin Yildirim, 2002. "Learning by Doing and Dynamic Regulation," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 33(1), pages 22-36, Spring.
    16. repec:ebl:ecbull:v:3:y:2007:i:12:p:1-10 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Bernstein, Jeffrey I & Sappington, David E M, 1999. "Setting the X Factor in Price-Cap Regulation Plans," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 16(1), pages 5-25, July.
    18. Chade, Hector & Silvers, Randy, 2002. "Informed principal, moral hazard, and the value of a more informative technology," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 74(3), pages 291-300, February.
    19. Spulber, Daniel F., 1988. "Optimal environmental regulation under asymmetric information," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 163-181, March.
    20. David P. Baron & David Besanko, 1984. "Regulation, Asymmetric Information, and Auditing," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 15(4), pages 447-470, Winter.
    21. Laffont, Jean-Jacques & Rochet, Jean-Charles, 1998. "Regulation of a Risk Averse Firm," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 25(2), pages 149-173, November.
    22. Prusa, Thomas J., 1990. "An incentive compatible approach to the transfer pricing problem," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(1-2), pages 155-172, February.
    23. Ismail Saglam & Semih Koray, 2007. "Learning in Bayesian regulation: desirable or undesirable?," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 3(12), pages 1-10.
    24. Thomas Kuhn & Uwe Cantner, 1999. "Optimal regulation of technical progress in natural monopolies with asymmetric information," Review of Economic Design, Springer;Society for Economic Design, vol. 4(3), pages 191-204.
    25. Bower, Anthony G, 1993. "Procurement Policy and Contracting Efficiency," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 34(4), pages 873-901, November.
    26. Lantz, Bjorn, 2007. "A non-Bayesian piecewise linear approximation adjustment process for incentive regulation," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 95-101, March.
    27. Baron, David P, 1981. "Price Regulation, Product Quality, and Asymmetric Information," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 71(1), pages 212-220, March.
    28. Ismail Saglam, 2019. "The Effect of Awareness and Observability on the Non-contractible Investment of a Regulated Natural Monopoly," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 19(4), pages 617-639, December.
    29. S. Lael Brainard & David Martimort, 1996. "Strategic Trade Policy Design with Asymmetric Information and Public Contracts," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 63(1), pages 81-105.
    30. David Sibley, 1989. "Asymmetric Information, Incentives and Price-Cap Regulation," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 20(3), pages 392-404, Autumn.
    31. Semih Koray & İsmail Sağlam, 1999. "Bayesian Regulatory Mechanisms: Corruption and Learning," International Economic Association Series, in: Murat R. Sertel (ed.), Contemporary Economic Issues, chapter 2, pages 30-48, Palgrave Macmillan.
    32. Harris Milton & Townsend, Robert M, 1981. "Resource Allocation under Asymmetric Information," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 49(1), pages 33-64, January.
    33. Richard A. Posner, 1974. "Theories of Economic Regulation," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 5(2), pages 335-358, Autumn.
    34. William P. Rogerson, 2003. "Simple Menus of Contracts in Cost-Based Procurement and Regulation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(3), pages 919-926, June.
    35. Neu, Werner, 1993. "Allocative Inefficiency Properties of Price-Cap Regulation," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 5(2), pages 159-182, June.
    36. Blackmon, B Glenn, Jr, 1992. "The Incremental Surplus Subsidy and Rate-of-Return Regulation," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 4(2), pages 187-196, June.
    37. Ed Nosal, 2006. "Information Gathering By A Principal," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 47(4), pages 1093-1111, November.
    38. Mark Armstrong & John Vickers, 2000. "Multiproduct Price Regulation Under Asymmetric Information," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(2), pages 137-160, June.
    39. Semih Koray & Ismail Saglam, 2005. "The Need for Regulating a Bayesian Regulator," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 28(1), pages 5-21, July.
    40. Jean-Jacques Laffont & Jean Tirole, 1993. "A Theory of Incentives in Procurement and Regulation," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262121743, December.
    41. Baron, David P. & Besanko, David, 1984. "Regulation and information in a continuing relationship," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 1(3), pages 267-302.
    42. Stephen Littlechild, 2009. "Stipulated settlements, the consumer advocate and utility regulation in Florida," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 35(1), pages 96-109, February.
    43. Michael H. Riordan, 1984. "On Delegating Price Authority to a Regulated Firm," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 15(1), pages 108-115, Spring.
    44. Ismail Saglam, 2022. "Pareto gains of predonation in monopoly regulation," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 24(4), pages 817-854, August.
    45. JÖrg Finsinger & Ingo Vogelsa, 1981. "Alternative Institutional Frameworks For Price Incentive Mechanisms," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(3), pages 388-404, August.
    46. Lewis, Tracy R. & Sappington, David E. M., 1989. "Countervailing incentives in agency problems," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 49(2), pages 294-313, December.
    47. Loeb, Martin & Magat, Wesley A, 1979. "A Decentralized Method for Utility Regulation," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 22(2), pages 399-404, October.
    48. Armstrong, Mark & Vickers, John, 2000. "Multiproduct Price Regulation under Asymmetric Information," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(2), pages 137-160, June.
    49. Partha Dasgupta & Peter Hammond & Eric Maskin, 1979. "The Implementation of Social Choice Rules: Some General Results on Incentive Compatibility," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 46(2), pages 185-216.
    50. Mathias Dewatripont & Ian Jewitt & Jean Tirole, 1999. "The Economics of Career Concerns, Part I: Comparing Information Structures," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 66(1), pages 183-198.
    51. Crew, Michael A & Kleindorfer, Paul R, 2002. "Regulatory Economics: Twenty Years of Progress?," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 21(1), pages 5-22, January.
    52. Ingo Vogelsang & Jorg Finsinger, 1979. "A Regulatory Adjustment Process for Optimal Pricing by Multiproduct Monopoly Firms," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 10(1), pages 157-171, Spring.
    53. Ismail Saglam, 2023. "Incentives of a monopolist for innovation under regulatory threat," Economics of Governance, Springer, vol. 24(1), pages 41-66, March.
    54. Guesnerie, Roger & Laffont, Jean-Jacques, 1984. "A complete solution to a class of principal-agent problems with an application to the control of a self-managed firm," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 329-369, December.
    55. Dana Jr. James D., 1993. "The Organization and Scope of Agents: Regulating Multiproduct Industries," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 59(2), pages 288-310, April.
    56. Vogelsang, Ingo, 2002. "Incentive Regulation and Competition in Public Utility Markets: A 20-Year Perspective," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 22(1), pages 5-27, July.
    57. Mathias Dewatripont & Ian Jewitt & Jean Tirole, 1999. "The Economics of Career Concerns, Part I: Comparing Information Structures," Review of Economic Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 66(1), pages 183-198.
    58. David Sappington, 1982. "Optimal Regulation of Research and Development under Imperfect Information," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 13(2), pages 354-368, Autumn.
    59. Leon Yang Chu & David E. M. Sappington, 2007. "Simple Cost-Sharing Contracts," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(1), pages 419-428, March.
    60. Aditya Bhattacharjea, 1998. "Optimal Trade Policy When A Foreign Monopolist Has Unknown Costs: An Incentive-Compatible Approach," Indian Economic Review, Department of Economics, Delhi School of Economics, vol. 33(1), pages 97-104, January.
    61. Jamasb, Tooraj & Pollitt, Michael, 2003. "International benchmarking and regulation: an application to European electricity distribution utilities," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 31(15), pages 1609-1622, December.
    62. Vogelsang, Ingo, 1990. "Optional two-part tariffs constrained by price caps," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 287-292, July.
    63. Riordan, Michael H & Sappington, David E M, 1987. "Awarding Monopoly Franchises," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 77(3), pages 375-387, June.
    64. Bedard, Nicholas C., 2017. "The strategically ignorant principal," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 548-561.
    65. McAfee, R. Preston & McMillan, John, 1988. "Multidimensional incentive compatibility and mechanism design," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 46(2), pages 335-354, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Armstrong, Mark & Sappington, David E.M., 2007. "Recent Developments in the Theory of Regulation," Handbook of Industrial Organization, in: Mark Armstrong & Robert Porter (ed.), Handbook of Industrial Organization, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 27, pages 1557-1700, Elsevier.
    2. Ingo Vogelsang, 2006. "Electricity Transmission Pricing and Performance-based Regulation," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 4), pages 97-126.
    3. Paul L. Joskow, 2014. "Incentive Regulation in Theory and Practice: Electricity Distribution and Transmission Networks," NBER Chapters, in: Economic Regulation and Its Reform: What Have We Learned?, pages 291-344, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Laffont, Jean-Jacques, 1994. "The New Economics of Regulation Ten Years After," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 62(3), pages 507-537, May.
    5. Saglam, Ismail, 2014. "Research and Development of an Optimally Regulated Monopolist with Unknown Costs," MPRA Paper 60245, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. B. Caillaud & R. Guesnerie & P. Rey & J. Tirole, 1988. "Government Intervention in Production and Incentives Theory: A Review of Recent Contributions," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 19(1), pages 1-26, Spring.
    7. Committee, Nobel Prize, 2014. "Market power and regulation (scientific background)," Nobel Prize in Economics documents 2014-2, Nobel Prize Committee.
    8. Prieger, James E. & Sanders, Nicholas J., 2012. "Verifiable and non-verifiable anonymous mechanisms for regulating a polluting monopolist," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 64(3), pages 410-426.
    9. Hesamzadeh, M.R. & Rosellón, J. & Gabriel, S.A. & Vogelsang, I., 2018. "A simple regulatory incentive mechanism applied to electricity transmission pricing and investment," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 423-439.
    10. Semih Koray & Ismail Saglam, 2005. "The Need for Regulating a Bayesian Regulator," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 28(1), pages 5-21, July.
    11. Ismail Saglam, 2016. "On the Pareto Efficiency of a Socially Optimal Mechanism for Monopoly Regulation," IPEK Working Papers 1601, Ipek University, Department of Economics, revised May 2016.
    12. Drew Fudenberg, 2015. "Tirole's Industrial Regulation and Organization Legacy in Economics," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 117(3), pages 771-800, July.
    13. Ismail Saglam, 2017. "Monopoly Regulation Under Relaxed Pareto Efficiency," Studies in Microeconomics, , vol. 5(2), pages 162-176, December.
    14. Alessandro Marra, 2006. "Mixed Public-Private Enterprises in Europe: Economic Theory and an Empirical Analysis of Italian Water Utilities," Bruges European Economic Research Papers 4, European Economic Studies Department, College of Europe.
    15. Ismail Saglam, 2015. "Regulating a Manager-Controlled Monopoly with Unknown Costs," IPEK Working Papers 1503, Ipek University, Department of Economics.
    16. Victor V. Claar, 1998. "An Incentive-Compatibility Approach To the Problem of Monitoring a Bureau," Public Finance Review, , vol. 26(6), pages 599-610, November.
    17. Giuseppe Coco & Claudio De Vincenti, 2002. "Can regulation increase firm's efficiency?," Working Papers in Public Economics 60, University of Rome La Sapienza, Department of Economics and Law.
    18. Mark Armstrong & David E.M. Sappington, 2006. "Regulation, Competition and Liberalization," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 44(2), pages 325-366, June.
    19. Ismail Saglam, 2022. "Bridging bargaining theory with the regulation of a natural monopoly," Review of Economic Design, Springer;Society for Economic Design, vol. 26(3), pages 307-344, September.
    20. Aguirre, Iñaki & Beitia, Arantza, 2017. "Modelling countervailing incentives in adverse selection models: A synthesis," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 82-89.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Monopoly; Regulation; Bayesian approach; Incentive mechanisms;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design
    • L22 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Firm Organization and Market Structure
    • L51 - Industrial Organization - - Regulation and Industrial Policy - - - Economics of Regulation

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:regeco:v:65:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1007_s11149-023-09470-1. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.