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Regulatory risk under optimal incentive regulation

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  • Strausz, Roland

Abstract

The paper provides a tractable, analytical framework to study regulatory risk under optimal incentive regulation. Regulatory risk is captured by uncertainty about the policy variables in the regulator's objective function: weights attached to profits and costs of public funds. Results are as follows: 1) The regulator's reaction to regulatory risk depends on the curvature of the aggregate demand function. 2) It yields a positive information rent effect exactly when demand is convex. 3) Firms benefit from regulatory risk exactly when demand is convex. 4) Consumers' risk preferences tend to contradict the firms. 5) Benevolent regulators always prefer regulatory risk and these preferences may contradict both the firms and consumers' preferences.

Suggested Citation

  • Strausz, Roland, 2009. "Regulatory risk under optimal incentive regulation," SFB 649 Discussion Papers 2009-006, Humboldt University Berlin, Collaborative Research Center 649: Economic Risk.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:sfb649:sfb649dp2009-006
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Strausz, Roland, 2006. "Deterministic versus stochastic mechanisms in principal-agent models," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 128(1), pages 306-314, May.
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    7. Burkhard Pedell, 2006. "Regulatory Risk and the Cost of Capital," Springer Books, Springer, number 978-3-540-30802-7, January.
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    11. 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.
    12. Thomas P. Lyon & John W. Mayo, 2005. "Regulatory Opportunism and Investment Behavior: Evidence from the U.S. Electric Utility Industry," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 36(3), pages 628-644, Autumn.
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    19. Chang, Mo Ahn & Thompson, Howard E, 1989. "An Analysis of Some Aspects of Regulatory Risk and the Required Rate of Return for Public Utilities," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 1(3), pages 241-257, September.
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    Cited by:

    1. Strausz, Roland, 2009. "The political economy of regulatory risk," SFB 649 Discussion Papers 2009-040, Humboldt University Berlin, Collaborative Research Center 649: Economic Risk.
    2. Darryl S. L. Jarvis, 2010. "Institutional processes and regulatory risk: A case study of the Thai energy sector," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 4(2), pages 175-202, June.
    3. Michał Grajek & Lars-Hendrik Röller, 2012. "Regulation and Investment in Network Industries: Evidence from European Telecoms," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 55(1), pages 189-216.
    4. Choroś, Barbara & Härdle, Wolfgang Karl & Okhrin, Ostap, 2009. "CDO and HAC," SFB 649 Discussion Papers 2009-038, Humboldt University Berlin, Collaborative Research Center 649: Economic Risk.
    5. Michael Funke & Marc Gronwald, 2009. "A Convex Hull Approach to Counterfactual Analysis of Trade Openness and Growth," Quantitative Macroeconomics Working Papers 20906, Hamburg University, Department of Economics.
    6. repec:hum:wpaper:sfb649dp2009-040 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Michał Grajek & Lars-Hendrik Röller, 2012. "Regulation and Investment in Network Industries: Evidence from European Telecoms," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 55(1), pages 189-216.
    8. repec:hum:wpaper:sfb649dp2009-041 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Grith, Maria & Härdle, Wolfgang Karl & Park, Juhyun, 2009. "Shape invariant modelling pricing kernels and risk aversion," SFB 649 Discussion Papers 2009-041, Humboldt University Berlin, Collaborative Research Center 649: Economic Risk.
    10. repec:hum:wpaper:sfb649dp2009-038 is not listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Optimal incentive regulation; regulatory risk; procurement; information rents;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L51 - Industrial Organization - - Regulation and Industrial Policy - - - Economics of Regulation
    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

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