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Railway (De)Regulation: A European Efficiency Comparison

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  • Ivaldi, Marc
  • Friebel, Guido
  • Vibes, Catherine

Abstract

Many European countries have sought to increase the efficiency of national railroad companies through a range of reforms: separating infrastructure and operations, creating independent regulatory institutions and providing access to the network to third parties. To estimate the effects of reforms on railroad efficiency, we investigate a new World Bank panel dataset that covers many EU countries over a period of 20 years. We compare the passenger traffic efficiency of national railroad companies by means of a production frontier model and evaluate the effects of reforms on efficiency. We find that reforms have efficiency-increasing effects but that the effect of reforms depends on sequencing: the introduction of multiple reforms in a package has at best neutral effects, but sequential reforms improve efficiency. Using the LISREL technique, we find that our results are robust against potential problems of endogeneity.

Suggested Citation

  • Ivaldi, Marc & Friebel, Guido & Vibes, Catherine, 2004. "Railway (De)Regulation: A European Efficiency Comparison," CEPR Discussion Papers 4319, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:4319
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    L92; Production frontier; Network industries; Panel data analysis; Passenger and freight traffic;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C23 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models
    • D24 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Production; Cost; Capital; Capital, Total Factor, and Multifactor Productivity; Capacity
    • L51 - Industrial Organization - - Regulation and Industrial Policy - - - Economics of Regulation

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