Economic Theory and Electrical public Utilities Organization in the first part of the twentieth century: French and US Experiences

The purpose of the paper is to highlight the role of economists in the institutional building of the electric systems in the first part of the twentieth century. It aims at showing how the organization of electricity sector and its regulation were largely the fruits of the economists' works not only at a theoretical point of view, but also trough their individual commitment in the public regulation building. Economists participate to the electricity sector re-organization by their academic researches and by their intervention in the new legislative framework building or directly in the firms' management. Both US experience of private regulated firms and French experience of a public-owned monopoly testimony of such commitment.Through these two examples, the communication will aim at putting into relief the dynamics between scholar debates and electricity sector reforms and the links between economic history and history of economic thought. Finally, the purpose will be to highlight to what extent these two historical experiences and the related economics debates can help us in the current European reform.