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Liberalization and regulatory reform of network industries: A comparative analysis of Italian public utilities

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  • Asquer, Alberto

Abstract

This study aims to contribute investigating the difficulties to reap the intended benefits from liberalization and regulatory reforms of network industries. This issue is tackled through the ‘theoretical lenses’ of new institutional economics, in particular by applying the Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework. The study is a comparative analysis of liberalization and regulatory reforms of network industries within the same country context. In Italy, various reforms of network industries have been made and implemented during the 1990s and 2000s, especially in water, gas, electricity, telecommunications, railways, highways, local public transports, and urban solid waste. These reforms generally resulted in greater or lesser degrees of changes of regulatory institutions and industry structure, but in relatively modest competitive pressures on the whole. This analysis suggests that the difficulty to implement liberalization and regulatory reforms of network industries in Italy may be explained by various concurrent mechanisms, which have to do with the rent-seeking behavior of the actors of the industry’s community, the rise of barriers to entry against competitors, and the risk of collusive practices between regulators and regulated. This study suggests some tentative generalizations concerning the effectiveness of reforms intended to open up network industries to competitive pressures.

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  • Asquer, Alberto, 2011. "Liberalization and regulatory reform of network industries: A comparative analysis of Italian public utilities," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 172-184.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:juipol:v:19:y:2011:i:3:p:172-184
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jup.2011.04.001
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    2. Gerli, Paolo & Van der Wee, Marlies & Verbrugge, Sofie & Whalley, Jason, 2018. "The involvement of utilities in the development of broadband infrastructure: A comparison of EU case studies," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(9), pages 726-743.
    3. Valerio Elia & Maria Grazia Gnoni & Fabiana Tornese, 2019. "Exploring the Benefits of Productization in the Utilities Sector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(20), pages 1-11, October.
    4. Laura DELPONTE & Maddalena SORRENTINO & Matteo TURRI & Daniela VANDONE, 2013. "The transformation of Milan's city energy enterprise in a leading national industrial group," CIRIEC Working Papers 1303, CIRIEC - Université de Liège.
    5. Di Giulio, Marco & Galanti, Maria Tullia & Moro, Francesco Niccolò, 2016. "Political coalitions, local leaders and the internationalization of local public services in Italy," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 144-151.
    6. Stefano CLÒ & Marco DI GIULIO & Maria Tullia GALANTI & Maddalena SORRENTINO, 2015. "Italian State-Owned Enterprises after Decades of Reforms: Still Public?," Departmental Working Papers 2015-26, Department of Economics, Management and Quantitative Methods at Università degli Studi di Milano.
    7. Giacomo Di Foggia & Ugo Arrigo, 2015. "The scope of public organisations with productive functions: insights from the inefficiency of Italian local public transport," European Journal of Government and Economics, Europa Grande, vol. 4(2), pages 134-154, December.
    8. Chi-Chih Lin, 2016. "Can Total Deregulation Be A Better Option Than Partial Deregulation?," The Singapore Economic Review (SER), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 61(04), pages 1-16, September.

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