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Pricing Decisions of Regulated Firms: A Behavioral Approach

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  • Paul L. Joskow

Abstract

Once the prices for utility service are set by state regulatory authorities, they remain at fixed levels until they are officially increased or decreased by the regulatory agency. A utility company is not free to vary the prices of its service independently. This paper presents the results of an attempt to specify and estimate a behavioral model of the pricing decisions of regulated firms. The "threshold" behavior of regulated firms with regard to their decisions to seek general price increases from state regulatory authorities and their decisions to file "voluntary" price decreases is discussed, and two decision equations are specified and then estimated for regulated electric utilities in New York State. The decision to file for a price increase is shown to depend on the growth rate of earnings per share achieved by the firm in the current and previous year, on the level of interest coverage realized in the current year, and on a variable which measures prior expectations of success in the hearing room. The decision to file a voluntary price decrease is shown to depend on the growth rate in earnings per share and a variable which measures the expectations of "forced" regulation.

Suggested Citation

  • Paul L. Joskow, 1973. "Pricing Decisions of Regulated Firms: A Behavioral Approach," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 4(1), pages 118-140, Spring.
    • Handle: RePEc:rje:bellje:v:4:y:1973:i:spring:p:118-140
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    Cited by:

    1. Mie Augier & Michael Prietula, 2007. "Perspective---Historical Roots of the A Behavioral Theory of the Firm Model at GSIA," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 18(3), pages 507-522, June.
    2. Joseph Doucet & Stephen Littlechild, 2006. "Negotiated Settlements: The development of economic and legal thinking," Working Papers EPRG 0604, Energy Policy Research Group, Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge.
    3. Pérez Montes, Carlos, 2013. "Regulatory bias in the price structure of local telephone service," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 31(5), pages 462-476.
    4. Graeme Guthrie, 2006. "Regulating Infrastructure: The Impact on Risk and Investment," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 44(4), pages 925-972, December.
    5. Richard A. Michelfelder, 2015. "Electric utility regulation and investment in green energy resources," Journal of Sustainable Finance & Investment, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 5(1-2), pages 48-64, April.
    6. Boyle, Glenn & Evans, Lewis & Guthrie, Graeme, 2006. "Estimating the WACC in a Regulatory Setting: An Assessment of Dr Martin Lally's paper 'The Weighted Average Cost of Capital for Electricity Lines Businesses' of 8 September 2005," Working Paper Series 18939, Victoria University of Wellington, The New Zealand Institute for the Study of Competition and Regulation.
    7. Calzada, Joan & Diaz-Serrano, Luis, 2023. "Conflicting national policies: The creation of the euro and the rebalancing of telecommunications prices," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(1).
    8. Paul L. Joskow, 2014. "Incentive Regulation in Theory and Practice: Electricity Distribution and Transmission Networks," NBER Chapters, in: Economic Regulation and Its Reform: What Have We Learned?, pages 291-344, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. repec:vuw:vuwscr:18946 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Doucet, Joseph & Littlechild, Stephen, 2006. "Negotiated settlements: The development of legal and economic thinking," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 14(4), pages 266-277, December.
    11. Guthrie, Graeme, 2006. "Regulating Infrastructure: The Impact on Risk and Investment," Working Paper Series 18946, Victoria University of Wellington, The New Zealand Institute for the Study of Competition and Regulation.
    12. Sinha, Avik, 2015. "Conceptualizing Service Export Price Optimization," MPRA Paper 102264, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2015.
    13. Boyle, Glenn & Evans, Lewis & Guthrie, Graeme, 2006. "Estimating the WACC in a Regulatory Setting: An Assessment of Dr Martin Lally's paper 'The Weighted Average Cost of Capital for Electricity Lines Businesses' of 8 September 2005," Working Paper Series 3844, Victoria University of Wellington, The New Zealand Institute for the Study of Competition and Regulation.
    14. Shiyou Li & Emeka Nwaeze & Jennifer Yin, 2016. "Earnings management in the electric utility industry: profit incentives," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 46(3), pages 633-660, April.
    15. Perrakis, Stylianos, 1989. "Les contributions de la théorie financière à la solution de problèmes en organisation industrielle et en microéconomie appliquée," L'Actualité Economique, Société Canadienne de Science Economique, vol. 65(4), pages 518-546, décembre.
    16. Carlos Perez Montes, 2012. "Regulatory bias in the price structure of local telephone services," Working Papers 1201, Banco de España.
    17. repec:vuw:vuwscr:18939 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Robert Hahn & Robert Metcalfe & Florian Rundhammer, 2020. "Promoting customer engagement: A new trend in utility regulation," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 14(1), pages 121-149, January.
    19. Mirucki, Jean, 1980. "Vérification des conditions d'efficacité dans la production chez Bell Canada [Checking the conditions of efficient production in Bell Canada]," MPRA Paper 30147, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised Jun 1980.
    20. Emeka T. Nwaeze, 1998. "Public Utility Regulation in the US and Asymmetric Return Responses to Positive and Negative Abnormal Earnings," Multinational Finance Journal, Multinational Finance Journal, vol. 2(4), pages 269-293, December.
    21. Emeka T. Nwaeze, 2000. "Positive and Negative Earnings Surprises, Regulatory Climate, and Stock Returns," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 17(1), pages 107-134, March.
    22. Chakravorty, Shourjo, 2020. "The association between a regulated utility's allowed revenue increase and future operating cost: Some evidence from Florida," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    23. Mirucki, Jean, 1980. "Comportement de l'entreprise réglementée: étude de l'hypothèse Averch-Johnson [Behavior of the Regulated Firm: A Study of the Averch-Johnson Hypothesis]," MPRA Paper 27669, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 1982.
    24. Hadlock, Charles J & Lee, D Scott & Parrino, Robert, 2002. "Chief Executive Officer Careers in Regulated Environments: Evidence from Electric and Gas Utilities," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 45(2), pages 535-563, October.
    25. Heather E. Campbell, 1996. "The politics of requesting: Strategic behavior and public utility regulation," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 15(3), pages 395-423.

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