IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/wbk/wbrwps/864.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Privatization of natural monopoly public enterprises : the regulation issue

Author

Listed:
  • Bradburd, Ralph

Abstract

Many developing countries are considering the privatization of public enterprise natural monopolies. Such as monopolies in charge of electricity, natural gas, water and sewer, and telephone service. The author tries to answer two questions: (i) how great would the efficiency losses be, if any, if a public natural monopoly were privatized and allowed to function as an unregulated entity? and (ii) how much could performance be expected to improve if the privatized natural monopoly operated as a regular firm? The author argues that the deadweight losses from monopoly pricing by unregulated privatized natural monopolies are likely to be modest and may well be outweighed by improvements in technical efficiency. He also argues that regulation is not costless and may well foster static and dynamic efficiency losses greater than the deadweight monopoly losses it is intended to prevent. Also, the reduction of allocative inefficiency is only one of several objectives of regulation. If the case for regulation on efficiency is weak, then much greater attention must be paid to how these other objectives can best be achieved. Historically, achieving distributional equity has been an important objective of regulation. We have very little systematic knowledge about the actual distributional consequences of privatization and deregulation, so more research is needed.

Suggested Citation

  • Bradburd, Ralph, 1992. "Privatization of natural monopoly public enterprises : the regulation issue," Policy Research Working Paper Series 864, The World Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:864
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/452531468766183290/pdf/multi-page.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Domberger, Simon & Piggott, John, 1986. "Privatization Policies and Public Enterprise: A Survey," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 62(177), pages 145-162, June.
    2. Bradburd, Ralph & Ross, David R., 1991. "Regulation and deregulation in industrial countries : some lessons for LDCs," Policy Research Working Paper Series 699, The World Bank.
    3. Primeaux, Walter J, Jr, 1977. "An Assessment of X-Efficiency Gained through Competition," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 59(1), pages 105-108, February.
    4. Lester D. Taylor, 1975. "The Demand for Electricity: A Survey," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 6(1), pages 74-110, Spring.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Sonja GRÖNBLOM & Johan WILLNER, 2008. "Privatization And Liberalization: Costs And Benefits In The Presence Of Wage‐Bargaining," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 79(1), pages 133-160, March.
    2. Chris Shugart, 1998. "Regulation-by-Contract and Municipal Services: The Problem of Contractual Incompleteness," Development Discussion Papers 1998-09, JDI Executive Programs.
    3. Janusz A. Ordover & Russell W. Pittman & Paul Clyde, 1994. "Competition policy for natural monopolies in a developing market economy1," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 2(3), pages 317-343, September.
    4. A. Brandão & S. Castro, 2007. "State-owned enterprises as indirect instruments of entry regulation," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 92(3), pages 263-274, December.
    5. Johan WILLNER & Sonja GRÖNBLOM, 2017. "Public Enterprises – Objectives and Performance," Departmental Working Papers 2017-03, Department of Economics, Management and Quantitative Methods at Università degli Studi di Milano.
    6. Johan Willner & Sonja Gronblom, 2016. "The organisation of services of general interest in Finland," ECONOMIA PUBBLICA, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2016(3), pages 89-116.
    7. Ramamurti, Ravi, 1997. "Testing the limits of privatization: Argentine railroads," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 25(12), pages 1973-1993, December.
    8. Willner, Johan & Parker, David, 2002. "The Relative Performance of Public and Private Enterprise Under Conditions of Active and Passive Ownership," Centre on Regulation and Competition (CRC) Working papers 30591, University of Manchester, Institute for Development Policy and Management (IDPM).
    9. Cook, Paul & Fabella, Raul V., 1997. "The Welfare and Political Economy Dimensions of Private vs State Enterprise," General Discussion Papers 30561, University of Manchester, Institute for Development Policy and Management (IDPM).
    10. Johan WILLNER & Sonja GRÖNBLOM, 2011. "Reforming a network industry: consequences for cost efficiency and welfare," Departmental Working Papers 2011-33, Department of Economics, Management and Quantitative Methods at Università degli Studi di Milano.
    11. Leonard F. S. Wang & Ya-chin Wang & Lihong Zhao, 2009. "Privatization and the Environment in a Mixed Duopoly with Pollution Abatement," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 29(4), pages 3112-3119.
    12. Patrick Plane, 1996. "La privatisation des services publics en Afrique subsaharienne. Enjeux et incertitudes," Revue Économique, Programme National Persée, vol. 47(6), pages 1409-1421.
    13. Zhenhui Xu & Melissa Birch, 1999. "The Economic Performance of State-owned Enterprises in Argentina an Empirical Assessment," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 14(4), pages 355-375, June.
    14. Waldemar Milewicz, 2020. "The influence of foreign investors on the development of Polish enterprises – a case study of the BPH bank," Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Issues, VsI Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Center, vol. 8(2), pages 829-839, December.
    15. Willner, Johan, 2001. "Ownership, efficiency, and political interference," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 17(4), pages 723-748, November.
    16. Johan WILLNER & Sonja GRÖNBLOM, 2015. "The Organisation of Services of General Interest in Finland," CIRIEC Working Papers 1520, CIRIEC - Université de Liège.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Villalonga, Belen, 2000. "Privatization and efficiency: differentiating ownership effects from political, organizational, and dynamic effects," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 42(1), pages 43-74, May.
    2. Olmstead, Sheila M. & Michael Hanemann, W. & Stavins, Robert N., 2007. "Water demand under alternative price structures," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 54(2), pages 181-198, September.
    3. Céline Nauges & Arnaud Reynaud, 2001. "Estimation de la demande domestique d'eau potable en France," Revue Économique, Programme National Persée, vol. 52(1), pages 167-185.
    4. Lohmann, Gui & Trischler, Jakob, 2017. "Licence to build, licence to charge? Market power, pricing and the financing of airport infrastructure development in Australia," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 28-37.
    5. Labandeira, Xavier & Labeaga, José M. & López-Otero, Xiral, 2017. "A meta-analysis on the price elasticity of energy demand," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 549-568.
    6. Arbues, Fernando & Garcia-Valinas, Maria Angeles & Martinez-Espineira, Roberto, 2003. "Estimation of residential water demand: a state-of-the-art review," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 81-102, March.
    7. Acuña, Guillermo, 2017. "Elasticidades de la demanda de agua en Chile [Elasticities of water demand in Chile]," MPRA Paper 82916, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Dergiades, Theologos & Tsoulfidis, Lefteris, 2008. "Estimating residential demand for electricity in the United States, 1965-2006," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(5), pages 2722-2730, September.
    9. Parker, David, 2001. "Economic Regulation: A Preliminary Literature Review and Summary of Research Questions Arising," Centre on Regulation and Competition (CRC) Working papers 30616, University of Manchester, Institute for Development Policy and Management (IDPM).
    10. Massimo Filippini & Bettina Hirl & Giuliano Masiero, 2015. "Rational habits in residential electricity demand," IdEP Economic Papers 1506, USI Università della Svizzera italiana.
    11. Gautam, Tej K. & Paudel, Krishna P., 2018. "The demand for natural gas in the Northeastern United States," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 890-898.
    12. Paul H. Jensen & Robin E. Stonecash, 2004. "The Efficiency of Public Sector Outsourcing Contracts: A Literature Review," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2004n29, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne.
    13. Hendrik Schmitz & Reinhard Madlener, 2020. "Heterogeneity in price responsiveness for residential space heating in Germany," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 59(5), pages 2255-2281, November.
    14. Asci, Serhat & Borisova, Tatiana & Dukes, Michael D., 2015. "Price- and Non-Price Water Demand Management Strategies for Water Utilities," 2015 Annual Meeting, January 31-February 3, 2015, Atlanta, Georgia 196768, Southern Agricultural Economics Association.
    15. Ishmael Ackah, 2014. "Determinants of natural gas demand in Ghana," OPEC Energy Review, Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, vol. 38(3), pages 272-295, September.
    16. René Cabral & Luciano Ayala & Victor Hugo Delgado, 2017. "Residential Water Demand and Price Perception under Increasing Block Rates," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 37(1), pages 508-519.
    17. Gunnar Eskeland & Torben Mideksa, 2010. "Electricity demand in a changing climate," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 15(8), pages 877-897, December.
    18. Fell, Harrison & Li, Shanjun & Paul, Anthony, 2014. "A new look at residential electricity demand using household expenditure data," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 37-47.
    19. John Formby & James Keeler & Paul Thistle, 1988. "X-efficiency, rent-seeking and social costs," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 57(2), pages 115-126, May.
    20. Ivan Faiella & Luciano Lavecchia, 2021. "Households' energy demand and the effects of carbon pricing in Italy," Questioni di Economia e Finanza (Occasional Papers) 614, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:864. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Roula I. Yazigi (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/dvewbus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.