IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/regeco/v14y1998i2p103-25.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Efficient Entry, Monopoly, and the Universal Service Obligation in Postal Service

Author

Listed:
  • Crew, Michael A
  • Kleindorfer, Paul R

Abstract

This paper analyzes the nature of and justification for the Universal Service Obligation (USO) and its relationship to the Reserved Area for Postal Service. This is motivated by problems of funding the USO in the face of increasing competition in the postal sector. After reviewing various approaches to defining and funding the USO, we develop a model to consider the optimal scope of both the Reserved Area and the USO. The model assumes an incumbent postal provider and potential entrants. The incumbent is guaranteed a monopoly franchise for services in its Reserved Area R and offers services in a possibly larger set of services U at uniform prices. All services not in R face competition from entrants. We characterize the welfare-optimal scope of R and U subject to a breakeven constraint for the incumbent. Implications for USO policy are discussed in light of the results of the analysis. Copyright 1998 by Kluwer Academic Publishers

Suggested Citation

  • Crew, Michael A & Kleindorfer, Paul R, 1998. "Efficient Entry, Monopoly, and the Universal Service Obligation in Postal Service," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 14(2), pages 103-125, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:regeco:v:14:y:1998:i:2:p:103-25
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://journals.kluweronline.com/issn/0922-680X/contents
    File Function: link to full text
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

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

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jaag Christian, 2011. "Entry Deterrence and the Calculation of the Net Cost of Universal Service Obligations," Review of Network Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 10(1), pages 1-19, March.
    2. Lindhjem Henrik & Pedersen Simen, 2012. "Should Publicly Funded Postal Services be Reduced? A Cost-Benefit Analysis of the Universal Service Obligation in Norway," Review of Network Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 11(2), pages 1-33, June.
    3. Poudou, Jean-Christophe & Roland, Michel, 2014. "Efficiency of uniform pricing in universal service obligations," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 141-152.
    4. Mats Kröger, 2024. "Cream-skimming through PPAs – Interactions between Private and Public Long-term Contracts for Renewable Energy," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 2092, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    5. Gautier Axel & Paolini Dimitri, 2011. "Universal Service Financing in Competitive Postal Markets: One Size Does Not Fit All," Review of Network Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 10(3), pages 1-30, September.
    6. Jaag Christian, 2011. "What is an Unfair Burden? Compensating the Net Cost of Universal Service Provision," Review of Network Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 10(3), pages 1-32, September.
    7. Christian Jaag & Urs Trinkner, 2011. "The future of the USO - Economic rationale for universal services and implications for a future-oriented USO," Working Papers 0026, Swiss Economics.
    8. Poudou, Jean-Christophe & Roland, Michel, 2017. "Equity justifications for universal service obligations," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 63-95.
    9. Rodriguez, Frank & Storer, David, 2000. "Alternative approaches to estimating the cost of the USO in posts," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 12(3), pages 285-299, September.
    10. Calzada, Joan, 2009. "Universal service obligations in the postal sector: The relationship between quality and coverage," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 10-20, February.
    11. Christian Jaag & Urs Trinkner, 2012. "Defining and financing an intermodal USO," Working Papers 0035, Swiss Economics.
    12. Helmuth Cremer & Philippe De Donder & François Boldron & Bernard Roy, 2008. "Social Costs and Benefits of the Universal Service Obligation in the Postal Market," Chapters, in: Michael A. Crew & Paul R. Kleindorfer (ed.), Competition and Regulation in the Postal and Delivery Sector, chapter 2, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    13. Frédéric Fustier & Lionel Janin & Racha Sahly, 2014. "Net cost calculation: a practical example concerning La Poste and its territorial presence obligation," Chapters, in: Michael A. Crew & Timothy J. J. Brennan (ed.), The Role of the Postal and Delivery Sector in a Digital Age, chapter 16, pages 214-226, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    14. Anthony E. Boardman & Aidan R. Vining, 2012. "A Review and Assessment of Privatization in Canada," SPP Research Papers, The School of Public Policy, University of Calgary, vol. 5(4), January.
    15. Armstrong, Mark, 2001. "The theory of access pricing and interconnection," MPRA Paper 15608, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Damien Broussolle, 2007. "Full Market Opening In The Postal Services Facing The Social And Territorial Cohesion Goal In France," Working Papers of LaRGE Research Center 2007-07, Laboratoire de Recherche en Gestion et Economie (LaRGE), Université de Strasbourg.
    17. Bakhtieva, Dilyara & Kiljański, Kamil, 2012. "Universal Service Obligation and Loyalty Effects: An Agent-Based Modelling Approach," MPRA Paper 48549, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Raúl Bajo‐Buenestado, 2023. "Efficient regulated entry in competitive markets with demand uncertainty," International Journal of Economic Theory, The International Society for Economic Theory, vol. 19(2), pages 413-422, June.

    More about this item

    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:14:y:1998:i:2:p:103-25. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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.