Balance de la investigación académica en regulación de los servicios públicos

This paper provides a survey review of the literature on regulation of utilities with a focus on network industries (telecommunications, electricity, transport infrastructure, water and sanitation). It is limited to the publications realized from 2004 onwards which, somehow, refer to the Peruvian experience. The survey provides detailed evidence on the significant bibliographic production on this topic, underscoring the quantity and quality of various studies on regulation, mainly on energy and telecommunications. Also it includes some contributions published abroad, which refer to the progress that has been achieved in identifying the best practices of regulation as well as the principles that have shaped the institutional designs in some countries, providing new benchmarks for evaluation in developing nations. Likewise, the assessment reveals some substantial changes in the relative importance of specific issues. Privatization no longer occupies a central role in the public policy agenda, and has also lost attraction within the research communities. In contrast, network expansion and access to network services as well as the design of public-private partnerships and financial mechanisms for infrastructure development, have turned into the key issues of the agendas for research and public policy, respectively.