The European railway sector has undergone profound and predominantly institutional changes over the past 20 years, due to the initiatives of the European Commission. This book constitutes a first systematic assessment and account of the recent transformations of the industry along a series of critical yet contentious issues such as competition, unbundling, regulation, access charging, standards and interoperability, and public–private partnerships. It also covers the main railways sectors including passenger transport, high speed and freight.

Taking a global approach, this insightful Handbook brings together leading researchers to provide a comprehensive overview of the state-of-the-art in railway regulation with a particular focus on countries that rely heavily on railways for transportation links. The Handbook also considers the most pressing issues for those working in and with railway systems, and outlines future trends in the development of rail globally.

In recent decades, network industries around the world have gone through periods of de- and re-regulation. With vast amounts of sometimes conflicting research carried out into specific network industries, the time has come for a critical over-arching assessment of this entire industry in order to provide a platform of understanding to aid future research and practice. This comprehensive resource provides an orientation for academics, policy makers and managers as to the main economic, regulatory and commercial challenges in the network industries. The book is split into sections covering market, policy, regulation, management perspectives, whilst all of the key network industries are covered, including energy, transport, water and telecommunications. Overseen by world-class Editors and experts in the field, this inter-disciplinary resource is essential reading for students and researchers in international business, industrial economics and the industries.

This textbook on network economics provides essential microeconomic instruments for the analysis of network sectors like telecommunications, transport or energy. Network-specific characteristics emerge both on the cost side and benefit side, requiring network providers to develop innovative entrepreneurial competition strategies for costing, pricing, and investment. From a competition policy perspective, a number of interesting questions arise: In which parts of networks is competition functional? In contrast, where is an abuse of market power to be expected? What is the division of labor between cartel authorities and regulatory agencies? The book develops an analytical framework for all network industries which allows readers to study entrepreneurial strategies as well as regulation and competition policies for network industries.

Brings economic regulation to life by tracing theoretical insights through to real-world applications in eight essential regulated sectors.

This book concerns the regulation of transport within a European context, covering air, inland waterways, rail, road passenger and freight, urban public transport, and short sea shipping. All these sectors have experienced substantial changes over the

Este informe pretende contribuir al análisis económico de los proyectos de inversión en alta velocidad ferroviaria. La evaluación económica de proyectos puede ayudar a los gobiernos a formarse una idea más precisa sobre los beneficios esperados de distintas líneas de actuación que absorben dinero público para resolver un mismo problema de transporte. En este informe se trata de determinar las circunstancias en las que la inversión en alta velocidad es socialmente deseable y en que otras la sociedad gana posponiendo la inversión. La red de alta velocidad puede construirse gradualmente, añadiendo nuevas líneas una vez que la evaluación económica muestra una rentabilidad social positiva.

Transportation Policy and Economic Regulation: Essays in Honor of Theodore Keeler addresses a number of today's important transportation policy issues, exploring a variety of transportation modes, and examining the policy implications of a number of alternatives. Theodore Keeler had a distinguished career in transportation economics, helping to shape regulatory policies concerning the transportation industries and assessing the appropriateness of various policies. A distinguishing feature of his work is that it always had policy implications. As a tribute to Theodore Keeler, this book examines transportation policy issues across a variety of transportation industries, including aviation, railroads, highways, motor carrier transport, automobiles, urban transit, and ocean shipping. The book evaluates the economic impact and effectiveness of various policies, employing empirical analyses and new estimation techniques, such as Bayesian analysis. The book is designed for transportation professionals and researchers, as well as transportation economics students, providing an in-depth analysis of some of today's important transportation policy issues. Policy changes established in the last 35-40 years have introduced profound changes in the business environment of the transportation industry. Past policy changes promoted the free market's role in setting prices and determining service availability. While 21st century policy has focused on a variety of other issues, such as safety, road and air congestion, productivity growth, labor relations and exhaust emission, many still promote the role of competition. In addition to examining various transportation policy issues in the U.S., the book explores some approaches to dealing with transportation issues in different parts of the world. Contemporary transportation policy debates have broadened from their initial focus of primarily examining the merits of reforming economic regulations at national levels, to now examining a variety of issues such as alternative methods of social regulation (such as safety regulation and emission controls), new approaches to changing economic regulations, the potential for reforming international regulations, and the appropriate role for government in transportation. - Examines transportation policy developments across a variety of modes, including some international analysis - Shows how new policy changes, such as changes in regulation, affect overall transportation system performance - Features chapters that use innovative methodologies, such as Bayesian techniques, qualitative analysis, and an attribute-incorporated Malmquist productivity index - Examines the ways that policy impacts depend on a variety of factors, and shows how economic tools can be used to gain greater insights into the likely impacts of policy and the desirability of various policies - Analyzes transport prices, quality of service, safety, the use of information technology and operating issues, highlighting how transportation enhances quality of life

Heritier, Kerwer, Knill, Lehmkuhl (all with the Max Planck Project Group, Common Goods: Law, Politics, and Economics), Teutsch (European Union Department of the German Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs), and Douillet (Ecole Normale Superieure de Cachan) combine efforts in this study to develop a theoretical and conceptual framework for studying the impact of European policies on member states. The authors argue that the influence of EU policies on each member state depends on each state's preexisting policies and institutional capacity to change. The study focuses on transport policy, presenting case studies from Britain, France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands to demonstrate differences in the impacts of EU policies. The text concludes with a comparison of the differences in responses of member states to identical European policy demands and similar external and internal conditions. c. Book News Inc.

This insightful book provides readers with an in-depth discussion of the use of benchmarking in regulation in the European transport sector. It argues that benchmarking is invaluable to regulators, particularly in the transport sector where the pressures of competition in - or for - the market are often absent. Written by a range of expert contributors, chapters offer an analysis of methodology, data requirements as well as practical examples of the use of benchmarking in the main transport modes (such as road, rail, seaports, airports and local public transport). Utilising illuminating case studies, the book also reviews the importance of benchmarking in the application of European competition law and considers the issue of obtaining appropriate and reliable data to achieve this. Benchmarking and Regulation in Transport will be an essential read for researchers, scholars and students in the fields of economic regulation, governance, transport economics and transport law. It will also be useful for policymakers and regulators who wish to further their understanding of the benefits of benchmarking in an efficiency-enhancing public policy strategy, especially within transport infrastructure.