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Network Utilities Performance and Institutional Quality: Evidence from the Italian Electricity Sector

Author

Listed:
  • Soroush, Golnoush

    (Department of Management, Politecnico di Torino, Italy)

  • Cambini, Carlo

    (Department of Management, Politecnico di Torino, Italy)

  • Jamasb, Tooraj

    (Department of Economics, Copenhagen Business School)

  • Llorca, Manuel

    (Department of Economics, Copenhagen Business School)

Abstract

It is generally accepted that institutions are important for economic development. However, whether the performance of regulated utilities within a country is affected by the quality of institutions is yet to be investigated thoroughly. We analyse how the quality of regional institutions impact performance of Italian electricity distribution utilities. We use a stochastic frontier analysis approach to estimate cost functions and examine the performance of 108 electricity distribution utilities from 2011 to 2015. This unique dataset was constructed with the help of the Italian Regulator for Energy, Networks, and Environment. In addition, we use a recent dataset on regional institutional quality in Italy. We present evidence that utilities in regions with better government effectiveness, responsiveness towards citizens, control of corruption, and rule of law, also tend to be more cost efficient. The results suggest that national regulators should take regional institutional diversity into account in incentive regulation and efficiency benchmarking of utilities.

Suggested Citation

  • Soroush, Golnoush & Cambini, Carlo & Jamasb, Tooraj & Llorca, Manuel, 2020. "Network Utilities Performance and Institutional Quality: Evidence from the Italian Electricity Sector," Working Papers 4-2020, Copenhagen Business School, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:cbsnow:2020_004
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    Cited by:

    1. Ryota Nakatani, 2023. "Productivity drivers of infrastructure companies: Network industries utilizing economies of scale in the digital era," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 94(4), pages 1273-1298, December.
    2. Jamasb, Tooraj & Llorca, Manuel & Khetrapal, Pavan & Thakur, Tripta, 2021. "Institutions and performance of regulated firms: Evidence from electricity distribution in India," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 68-82.
    3. Sinha, Avik & Bekiros, Stelios & Hussain, Nazim & Nguyen, Duc Khuong & Khan, Sana Akbar, 2023. "How social imbalance and governance quality shape policy directives for energy transition in the OECD countries?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    4. Nakatani, Ryota, 2022. "Productivity drivers of infrastructure companies: network industries to maximize economies of scale in the digital era," MPRA Paper 115531, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Hou, Zheng & Ramalho, Joaquim J.S. & Roseta-Palma, Catarina, 2025. "Dealing with endogeneity in stochastic frontier models: A comparative assessment of estimators," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    6. Finocchiaro Castro ,Massimo & Guccio, Calogero, 2023. "New wine in old bottle: Exploring the Corruption-inefficiency nexus using endogenous stochastic frontier approach," EconStor Preprints 275730, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    7. Massimo Finocchiaro Castro & Calogero Guccio, 2025. "Exploring the corruption‐inefficiency nexus using an endogenous stochastic frontier analysis," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 91(3), pages 811-849, January.
    8. Simona Galano & Luca Sessa & Simone ZuccolalÃ, 2022. "The quality of electricity supply: a comparison among Italian regions," Questioni di Economia e Finanza (Occasional Papers) 737, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    9. Noor Shakir Mahmood & Ahmed Ali Ajmi & Shamsul Bin Sarip & Hazilah Mad Kaidi & Khairur Rijal Jamaludin & Hayati Habibah Abdul Talib, 2022. "Modeling the Sustainable Integration of Quality and Energy Management in Power Plants," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-19, February.
    10. Yifan Yang & Hongda Liu, 2024. "Sustainable Media and Green Innovation: The Impact of Sustainable Atmosphere and Environmental Regulation on Manufacturing Enterprises," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(8), pages 1-17, April.
    11. Hou, Zheng & Roseta-Palma, Catarina & Ramalho, Joaquim J.S., 2024. "Can operational efficiency in the Portuguese electricity sector be improved? Yes, but..," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    12. Zhang, Tao & Li, Hong-Zhou & Xie, Bai-Chen, 2022. "Have renewables and market-oriented reforms constrained the technical efficiency improvement of China's electric grid utilities?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).

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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • D22 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Empirical Analysis
    • L51 - Industrial Organization - - Regulation and Industrial Policy - - - Economics of Regulation
    • L94 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities - - - Electric Utilities
    • O43 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Institutions and Growth

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