IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/wpa/wuwpio/0202001.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Understanding Regulatory Environments and their Impact on Economic Change

Author

Listed:
  • Harvey James

    (University of Missouri)

  • Derek Johnson

    (University of Connecticut)

Abstract

We propose a framework for evaluating the effectiveness of regulatory activity based on the distinctions among boundary, conduct, and attribute regulation. The standard we use to evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of regulations creating boundaries, regulating conduct, and defining attributes is whether the regulations are market-enhancing or market-debilitating. We argue that this framework provides a consistent means by which economists and policy observers can evaluate the impact and effectiveness of a wide variety of regulatory initiatives, including antitrust actions, as well as economic and social regulations. To illustrate the utility of our framework, we evaluate recent deregulatory efforts in the telecommunications industry.

Suggested Citation

  • Harvey James & Derek Johnson, 2002. "Understanding Regulatory Environments and their Impact on Economic Change," Industrial Organization 0202001, University Library of Munich, Germany.
  • Handle: RePEc:wpa:wuwpio:0202001
    Note: Type of Document - Microsoft Word; prepared on IBM PC; to print on HP; pages: 24; figures: 2. 1 Figure and 1 table, included in file
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://econwpa.ub.uni-muenchen.de/econ-wp/io/papers/0202/0202001.pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://econwpa.ub.uni-muenchen.de/econ-wp/io/papers/0202/0202001.ps.gz
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://econwpa.ub.uni-muenchen.de/econ-wp/io/papers/0202/0202001.doc.gz
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Robert G. Harris & C. Jeffrey Kraft, 1997. "Meddling Through: Regulating Local Telephone Competition in the United States," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 11(4), pages 93-112, Fall.
    2. David, Paul A., 1970. "Learning By Doing and Tariff Protection: A Reconsideration of the Case of the Ante-Bellum United States Cotton Textile Industry," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 30(3), pages 521-601, September.
    3. F. Gasmi & J. J. Laffont & W. W. Sharkey, 1999. "Empirical Evaluation of Regulatory Regimes in Local Telecommunications Markets," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 8(1), pages 61-93, March.
    4. Mueller, Dennis C., 1996. "Lessons from the United States's antitrust history," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 14(4), pages 415-445, June.
    5. Hazlett, Thomas W, 1990. "The Rationality of U.S. Regulation of the Broadcast Spectrum," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 33(1), pages 133-175, April.
    6. Richard Schmalensee, 1989. "Good Regulatory Regimes," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 20(3), pages 417-436, Autumn.
    7. Aiginger, Karl & Mueller, Dennis C. & Weiss, Christoph, 1998. "Objectives, topics and methods in industrial organization during the nineties: Results from a survey," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 16(6), pages 799-830, November.
    8. Randall S. Kroszner & Philip E. Strahan, 1998. "What Drives Deregulation? Economics and Politics of the Relaxation of Bank Branching Restrictions," NBER Working Papers 6637, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Gasmi, F & Ivaldi, M & Laffont, Jean Jacques, 1994. "Rent Extraction and Incentives for Efficiency in Recent Regulatory Proposals," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 6(2), pages 151-176, May.
    10. Lawrence J. White, 1999. "Wanted: A Market Definition Paradigm for Monopolization Cases," Working Papers 99-01, New York University, Leonard N. Stern School of Business, Department of Economics.
    11. Joskow, Paul L, 1975. "Firm Decision-making Processes and Oligopoly Theory," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 65(2), pages 270-279, May.
    12. Larry Sawers, 1992. "The Navigation Acts revisited," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 45(2), pages 262-284, May.
    13. William Comanor & F. M. Scherer, 1995. "Rewriting History: the Early Sherman Act Monopolization Cases," International Journal of the Economics of Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 2(2), pages 263-290.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Philippe Gagnepain, 2001. "La nouvelle théorie de la régulation des monopoles naturels : fondements et tests," Post-Print hal-00622947, HAL.
    2. Armstrong, Mark & Sappington, David E.M., 2007. "Recent Developments in the Theory of Regulation," Handbook of Industrial Organization, in: Mark Armstrong & Robert Porter (ed.), Handbook of Industrial Organization, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 27, pages 1557-1700, Elsevier.
    3. Philippe Gagnepain & Marc Ivaldi & David Martimort, 2013. "The Cost of Contract Renegotiation: Evidence from the Local Public Sector," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(6), pages 2352-2383, October.
    4. Weisman, Dennis L., 2002. "Is there 'Hope' for price cap regulation?," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 14(3), pages 349-370, September.
    5. Michele Moretto & Paolo M. Panteghini & Carlo Scarpa, 2008. "Profit sharing and investment by regulated utilities: A welfare analysis," Review of Financial Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 17(4), pages 315-337, December.
    6. Jose Luis Lima R & Andres Gomez Lobo, 2004. "Good Regulatory Lags for Price Cap and Rolling Cap contracts," Econometric Society 2004 Latin American Meetings 278, Econometric Society.
    7. Philippe Gagnepain & Marc Ivaldi & David Martimort, 2010. "The renegotiation cost of public transport services contracts," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) hal-00622961, HAL.
    8. Francesca Stroffolini, 2009. "Access Profit-Sharing Regulation with Information Transmission and Acquisition," CSEF Working Papers 214, Centre for Studies in Economics and Finance (CSEF), University of Naples, Italy.
    9. Iossa, Elisabetta & Stroffolini, Francesca, 2005. "Price cap regulation, revenue sharing and information acquisition," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 217-230, March.
    10. Dalen, Dag Morten & Gomez-Lobo, Andres, 1997. "Estimating cost functions in regulated industries characterized by asymmetric information," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 41(3-5), pages 935-942, April.
    11. F. Gasmi & J. J. Laffont & W. W. Sharkey, 1999. "Empirical Evaluation of Regulatory Regimes in Local Telecommunications Markets," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 8(1), pages 61-93, March.
    12. Arup Bose & Debashis Pal & David E. M. Sappington, 2011. "On the Performance of Linear Contracts," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(1), pages 159-193, March.
    13. David Hawdon & Lester C. Hunt & Paul Levine & Neil Rickman, 2007. "Optimal sliding scale regulation: an application to regional electricity distribution in England and Wales," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 59(3), pages 458-485, July.
    14. Stephen G. Donald & David E. M. Sappington, 1995. "Explaining the Choice Among Regulatory Plans in the U.S. Telecommunications Industry," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 4(2), pages 237-265, June.
    15. Ovaere, Marten, 2023. "Cost-efficiency and quality regulation of energy network utilities," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    16. Lawrence White, 2000. ""Propertyzing" the Electromagnetic Spectrum: Why It's Important, and How to Begin," Working Papers 00-08, New York University, Leonard N. Stern School of Business, Department of Economics.
    17. repec:hal:pseose:hal-00710639 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. repec:hal:wpaper:hal-00710639 is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Stroffolini, Francesca, 2012. "Access profit-sharing regulation with information acquisition and transmission," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(2), pages 161-174.
    20. Dennis Mueller, 1996. "Antimerger policy in the United States: History and lessons," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 23(3), pages 229-253, October.
    21. Castro Martins, Maria Lurdes, 2003. "International differences in telecommunications demand," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 15(3), pages 291-303, September.
    22. Hans Schenk, 1996. "Bandwagon mergers, international competitiveness, and government policy," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 23(3), pages 255-278, October.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Regulation; antitrust; economic analysis; institutions; telecommunications;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L51 - Industrial Organization - - Regulation and Industrial Policy - - - Economics of Regulation

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:wpa:wuwpio:0202001. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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: EconWPA (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://econwpa.ub.uni-muenchen.de .

    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.