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Legal Unbundling can be a Golden Mean between Vertical Integration and Separation

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  • Höffler, Felix
  • Kranz, Sebastian

Abstract

We study an industry in which an upstream monopolist supplies an essential input at a regulated price to several downstream firms. Legal unbundling means that a downstream firm owns the upstream firm but this upstream firm is legally independent and maximizes its own upstream profits. We allow for non-tariff discrimination by the upstream firm and show that under quite general conditions legal unbundling yields (weakly) higher quantities in the downstream market than vertical separation and integration. Therefore, typically consumer surplus will be largest under legal unbundling. Outcomes under legal unbundling are still advantageous when we allow for discriminatory capacity investments, investments into marginal cost reduction and investments into network reliability. If access prices are unregulated, however, legal unbundling may be quite undesirable.

Suggested Citation

  • Höffler, Felix & Kranz, Sebastian, 2007. "Legal Unbundling can be a Golden Mean between Vertical Integration and Separation," Bonn Econ Discussion Papers 15/2007, University of Bonn, Bonn Graduate School of Economics (BGSE).
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:bonedp:152007
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Alessandro Avenali & Giorgio Matteucci & Pierfrancesco Reverberi, 2010. "How does vertical industry structure affect investment in infrastructure quality?," DIS Technical Reports 2010-08, Department of Computer, Control and Management Engineering, Universita' degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza".
    2. Felix Höffler & Sebastian Kranz, 2011. "Imperfect legal unbundling of monopolistic bottlenecks," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 39(3), pages 273-292, June.
    3. Klaus M. Schmidt, 2014. "Complementary Patents and Market Structure," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(1), pages 68-88, March.
    4. van Koten, Silvester, 2012. "Merchant interconnector projects by generators in the EU: Profitability and allocation of capacity," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 748-758.
    5. Martin Hellwig, 2008. "Competition Policy and Sector-Specific Regulation for Network Industries," Discussion Paper Series of the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods 2008_29, Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods.
    6. Silvester Koten, 2013. "Legal unbundling and auctions in vertically integrated (utilities) markets," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 36(3), pages 543-573, December.
    7. Thomas-Olivier Léautier & Véronique Thelen, 2009. "Optimal expansion of the power transmission grid: why not?," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 36(2), pages 127-153, October.
    8. Growitsch, Christian & Müller, Gernot & Stronzik, Marcus, 2008. "Ownership Unbundling in der Gaswirtschaft: Theoretische Grundlagen und empirische Evidenz," WIK Discussion Papers 308, WIK Wissenschaftliches Institut für Infrastruktur und Kommunikationsdienste GmbH.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Network industries; regulation; vertical relations; investments; ownership; sabotage;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D2 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations
    • D4 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design
    • L1 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance
    • L42 - Industrial Organization - - Antitrust Issues and Policies - - - Vertical Restraints; Resale Price Maintenance; Quantity Discounts
    • L43 - Industrial Organization - - Antitrust Issues and Policies - - - Legal Monopolies and Regulation or Deregulation
    • L51 - Industrial Organization - - Regulation and Industrial Policy - - - Economics of Regulation

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