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Network Investment under Legal and Ownership Unbundling

Author

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  • Cremer Helmuth

    (Toulouse School of Economics (GREMAQ, Institut universitaire de France and IDEI), Manufacture des Tabacs, 21 allée de Brienne, 31015 Toulouse Cedex 06, France)

  • De Donder Philippe

    (Toulouse School of Economics (GREMAQ-CNRS and IDEI), Manufacture des Tabacs, 21 allée de Brienne, 31015 Toulouse Cedex 06, France)

Abstract

We consider an industry where an upstream firm determines the size of a network used by two downstream firms. We contrast ownership unbundling and legal unbundling, where the upstream firm maximizes its total profit, including the profit of its downstream subsidiary(ies), but does not discriminate between them. Furthermore, each downstream subsidiary maximizes its own profit. We show that ownership separation is more detrimental to welfare than legal unbundling, whether the downstream market is perfectly competitive or not, and whether there are asymmetries in network needs across downstream firms, and downstream investments, or not.

Suggested Citation

  • Cremer Helmuth & De Donder Philippe, 2013. "Network Investment under Legal and Ownership Unbundling," Review of Network Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 12(1), pages 27-59, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bpj:rneart:v:12:y:2013:i:1:p:27-59:n:3
    DOI: 10.1515/rne-2012-0012
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Buehler, Stefan & Schmutzler, Armin & Benz, Men-Andri, 2004. "Infrastructure quality in deregulated industries: is there an underinvestment problem?," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 253-267, February.
    2. John Vickers, 1995. "Competition and Regulation in Vertically Related Markets," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 62(1), pages 1-17.
    3. Bolle, Friedel & Breitmoser, Yves, 2006. "On the Allocative Efficiency of Ownership Unbundling," Discussion Papers 255, European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder), Department of Business Administration and Economics.
    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. Höffler, Felix & Kranz, Sebastian, 2011. "Legal unbundling can be a golden mean between vertical integration and ownership separation," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 29(5), pages 576-588, September.
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    Cited by:

    1. Sven Heim, Bastian Krieger, and Mario Liebensteiner, 2020. "Unbundling, Regulation, and Pricing: Evidence from Electricity Distribution," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Special I).
    2. Fiocco, Raffaele & Guo, Dongyu, 2020. "Regulatory risk, vertical integration, and upstream investment," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    3. Avenali, Alessandro & Matteucci, Giorgio & Reverberi, Pierfrancesco, 2014. "Broadband investment and welfare under functional and ownership separation," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 70-82.
    4. Avenali, Alessandro & Bracaglia, Valentina & D'Alfonso, Tiziana & Reverberi, Pierfrancesco, 2018. "Strategic formation and welfare effects of airline-high speed rail agreements," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 117(PA), pages 393-411.
    5. Raffaele Fiocco & Dongyu Guo, 2015. "Mergers between regulated firms with unknown efficiency gains," Review of Economic Design, Springer;Society for Economic Design, vol. 19(4), pages 299-326, December.
    6. Fabian Queder, 2020. "Towards a vertically separated broadband infrastructure: The potential role of voluntary separation," Competition and Regulation in Network Industries, , vol. 21(2), pages 143-165, June.
    7. Lindemann, Henrik, 2015. "Regulatory Objectives and the Intensity of Unbundling in Electricity Markets," Hannover Economic Papers (HEP) dp-544, Leibniz Universität Hannover, Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Fakultät.

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