The past thirty years have witnessed a transformation of government economic intervention in broad segments of industry throughout the world. Many industries historically subject to economic price and entry controls have been largely deregulated, including natural gas, trucking, airlines, and commercial banking. However, recent concerns about market power in restructured electricity markets, airline industry instability amid chronic financial stress, and the challenges created by the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act, which allowed commercial banks to participate in investment banking, have led to calls for renewed market intervention. Economic Regulation and Its Reform collects research by a group of distinguished scholars who explore these and other issues surrounding government economic intervention. Determining the consequences of such intervention requires a careful assessment of the costs and benefits of imperfect regulation. Moreover, government interventions may take a variety of forms, from relatively nonintrusive performance-based regulations to more aggressive antitrust and competition policies and barriers to entry. This volume introduces the key issues surrounding economic regulation, provides an assessment of the economic effects of regulatory reforms over the past three decades, and examines how these insights bear on some of today’s most significant concerns in regulatory policy.

Institutional Reform of Air Navigation Service Providers deals with the changes that have taken place in this major, technologically progressive industry as many countries moved away from direct provision by the government to forms of corporate or private provision. The author provides an up-to-date institutional and economic analysis of air navigation service providers’ efforts to reform their governance and funding structures under these changes. The book discusses air navigation service providers in great detail, with a focus on the historical evolution of the industry’s institutional and regulatory frameworks as well as the ongoing developments in the industry (e.g. the Single European Sky in Europe and NextGen in the US). The author departs from the more conventional quasi-descriptive analysis by performing economic and econometric analyses of the industry that explicitly include institutional variables, e.g. to explore whether the nature of ownership can be associated with different economic efficiency outcomes. The result is a rigorous assessment of the structures of various air navigation service providers, strengthened by the use of case studies and policy analysis of potential reform. The theme and scope of this book will appeal to anyone interested in the institutional and regulatory history of air navigation service providers, and its accessible approach will appeal to policy-makers and professionals as well as people who are interested, more broadly, in economic regulation.

Air Traffic Management: Economics Regulation and Governance provides the latest insights on approaches and issues surrounding the economic regulation and governance of air traffic management (ATM). The book begins by explaining what ATM is, showing its importance within the aviation industry. It then outlines the unique institutional characteristics that govern ATM, also discussing its implications for economic regulation and investment. Technological developments and the issues and approaches to safety regulation are also covered, as are the implications ATM has on airports. The book concludes with an exploration of future directions, including the entry of drones into airspace and the introduction of competition in ATM services Air traffic management plays a critical role in air transport, impacting both air safety and the efficiency of air services. Yet air navigation services are shifting from government provision to private industry, creating the need for more critical analysis of governance and economic regulation within the ATM industry. - Consolidates the latest economic regulation and reform material regarding air traffic management - Provides numerous practical examples and real-world case studies drawn from around the globe - Explores economic regulation in both larger and smaller economies - Written from an objective, informed and practical perspective by an experienced regulation practitioner and researcher

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

The last few decades have witnessed substantial liberalization trends in various industries and countries. Starting with the deregulation of the US airline industry in 1978, regulatory restructuring took place in further network industries such as telecommunications, electricity or railways in various countries around the world. Although most of the liberalization movements were initially triggered by the worrying performances of the respective regulatory frameworks, increases in competition and corresponding improvements in allocative and productive efficiency were typically associated with the respective liberalization efforts. From an academic perspective, the transition from regulated industries to liberalized industries has attracted a substantial amount of research reflected in many books and research articles which can be distilled to three main questions: (1) What are the forces that have given rise to regulatory reform? (2) What is the structure of the regulatory change which has occurred to date and is likely to occur in the immediate future? (3) What have been the effects on industry efficiency, prices and profits of the reforms which have occurred to date? Liberalization in Aviation brings together renowned academics and practitioners from around the world to address all three questions and draw policy conclusions. The book is divided into five sections, in turn dealing with aspects of competition in various liberalized markets, the emergence and growth of low-cost carriers, horizontal mergers and alliances, infrastructures, and concluding with economic assessments of liberalization steps so far and proposed steps in the future.