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Global Price Caps and the Regulation of Access

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  • Laffont, Jean-Jacques
  • Tirole, Jean

Abstract

It is generally agreed that an intelligent interconnection policy is the key to an harmonious development of competition in the telecommunications industry. The paper first warns against some hazards associated with the dominant regulatory paradigms. By treating retail and wholesale prices asymmetrically, these paradigms may distort the structure of relative prices. They may further provide incumbents with incentives to exclude and to cross-subsidize. These perverse incentives generate a legitimate suspicion and lead regulators or courts to substitute their judgment fot the operators' business judgment. Second, the paper explains the intellectual underpinnings of an alternative mode of regulation, which consists in putting the operator's retail and wholesale activities into a single basket and thus in subjecting the firm to a global price cap. It provides an extensive discussion of the costs and benefits of global price caps, and shows that they do not distort the structure of retail and wholesale prices. Last, global price caps eliminate or substantially reduce the incentives for exclusionary behaviors and cross-subsidies, and thus allow a light-handed regulation.

Suggested Citation

  • Laffont, Jean-Jacques & Tirole, Jean, 2000. "Global Price Caps and the Regulation of Access," Brazilian Review of Econometrics, Sociedade Brasileira de Econometria - SBE, vol. 20(1), May.
  • Handle: RePEc:sbe:breart:v:20:y:2000:i:1:a:2776
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    File URL: https://periodicos.fgv.br/bre/article/view/2776
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Laffont, Jean-Jacques & Tirole, Jean, 1994. "Access pricing and competition," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 38(9), pages 1673-1710, December.
    2. Baumol, W, & Ordover, J. & Willig, R., 1996. "Parity Pricing and Its Critics: Necessary Condition for Efficiency in Provision of Bottleneck Services to Competitors," Working Papers 96-33, C.V. Starr Center for Applied Economics, New York University.
    3. Armstrong, Mark & Doyle, Chris & Vickers, John, 1996. "The Access Pricing Problem: A Synthesis," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(2), pages 131-150, June.
    4. Diamond, Peter A & Mirrlees, James A, 1971. "Optimal Taxation and Public Production: I--Production Efficiency," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 61(1), pages 8-27, March.
    5. Laffont, Jean-Jacques & Tirole, Jean, 1996. "Creating Competition through Interconnection: Theory and Practice," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 10(3), pages 227-256, November.
    6. Diamond, Peter A & Mirrlees, James A, 1971. "Optimal Taxation and Public Production II: Tax Rules," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 61(3), pages 261-278, June.
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    Cited by:

    1. Bose, Arup & Pal, Debashis & Sappington, David E.M., 2017. "Pricing to preclude sabotage in regulated industries," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 162-184.

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