David Gabel and David F. Weiman The chapters in this volwne address the related problems of regulating and pricing access in network industries. Interconnection between network suppliers raises the important policy questions of how to sustain competition and realize economic efficiency. To foster rivalry in any industry, suppliers must have access to customers. But unlike in other sectors, the very organization of network industries creates major impediments to potential entrants trying to carve out a niche in the market. In traditional sectors such as gas, electric, rail, and telephone services, these barriers take the form of the large private and social costs necessary to duplicate the physical infrastructure of pipelines, wires, or tracks. Few firms can afford to finance such an undertaking, because the level of sunk costs and the very large scale economies make it extremely risky. In other newer sectors, entrants face less tangible but no less pressing constraints. In the microcomputer industry, for example, high switching costs can prevent users from experimenting with alternative, but perhaps more efficient hardware platforms or operating systems. Although gateway technologies can reduce these barriers, the installed base of an incumbent can create powerful bandwagon effects that reinforce its advantage (such as the greater availability of compatible peripherals and software applications). In the era of electronic banking, entrants into the automated teller machine· (A TM) and credit card markets face a similar problem of establishing a ubiquitous presence.

Postal and Delivery Services: Delivering on Competition is an indispensable source of information and analysis on the current state of the postal and delivery sector. It offers current insight into strategy, regulation as well as the economics of this sector. Issues addressed include international postal policy, the universal service obligation, regulation, competition, entry, the role of scale and scope economies, the nature and role of cost and demand analysis in postal service, productivity, interaction of law and economics, human resources, transition and reform issues.

This book brings together academics and experts on Turkish network industries. It provides fundamental information on the current developments regarding regulation of the different network industries in Turkey. Turkey has gone through a liberalization process in most of the network industries during the past 20 years. In most of them, independent regulatory authorities have been established, but some network industries are still remaining under the central or local government regulatory regime. As a result, there is now a very complicated regulatory regime in place which makes Turkey’s regulatory system difficult to understand for practitioners, academics, lawyers, researchers and investors. This book offers unique insight into Turkey’s regulatory regime in various network industries. It also offers a historical background to regulation, a description of the current regulatory regimes, as well as an analysis of the foreseeable evolutions. The book covers all the important network industries in Turkey. No similar book is available on the market to date. Moreover, the book provides an extensive analysis of the current regulatory regimes in the energy, the transport, and the telecommunications industries. This book should be of interest to anyone wishing to understand Turkish regulation and will be very helpful handbook to researchers who are interested in regulation of network industries not only in Turkey but also in other developing countries, as Turkey is quite representative of other emerging countries. Readers will acquire a thorough understanding of the state of play of the Turkish network industries and their regulation.

Deregulation of Electric Utilities reviews the main issues relating to the changing environment in the utility industry. Topics covered in depth include compensation for stranded costs, efficiency gains, institutional design, pricing, economics of scale, and network externalities. In addition, this book assesses early experiences in electricity deregulation in continental Europe, New Zealand, North America, and the United Kingdom.

In most network industries, new dynamics are leading to an unprecedented opening up to competition and private sector participation. With the development of a single European market, the in-stages liberalisation process of public utilities has spread to almost all sectors. However, the water supply and sanitation (WSS) sector is considered somehow different and it has been excluded until recently from the restructuring processes achieved in other sectors. Water and Liberalisation: European Water Scenarios presents a better understanding of the specific demands of the WSS sector. Covering the operators' strategies, the regulatory dynamics as well as their interactions on the evolution of the sector, it addresses the likelihood, the nature, and the forms the WSS sector may take in Europe in the foreseeable future. Adopting a neutral political stance, the book analyses the implications of alternative scenarios in economic, ecological, social, legal, and institutional terms. Key sections include: In depth introduction to the current situation in the WSS sector; The European water supply and sanitation markets; The institutional framework of the water supply and sanitation sector in the EU: a comparative analysis; Analysis of the EU explicit and implicit policies and approaches in the sector; Analysis of the strategies of the water operators in Europe scenarios on the evolution of the water sector in Europe; Economic, environmental, & social implications of the scenarios; Major implications per scenario.