The Common Law in Cyberspace

Wrong in interesting ways, counts for high praise among academics. Peter Huber\u27s stirring new book, Law and Disorder in Cyberspace, certainly merits acclaim by that standard. The very subtitle of the book, Abolish the FCC and Let Common Law Rule the Telecosm, announces the daring arguments to follow. A book so bold could hardly fail to make some stimulating errors, the most provocative of which this review discusses. Thanks to his willingness to challenge musty doctrines of telecommunications law and policy, moreover, Huber gets a great deal right. Law and Disorder in Cyberspace argues at length that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has warped telecommunications markets, hindered technological advances, and violated constitutional rights. Huber blames the inherent nature of commission law, which he likens to Communist commandand- control economics: rigid, slow, and - despite all the earnest expertise of bureaucrats - ignorant (p. 8). Reforming the FCC is thus not an option; rather, it should shut its doors, once and for all, and never darken American liberty again (p. 7). What would replace the FCC? Market processes and common law courts. Rather than licensing access to the electromagnetic spectrum, Huber would sell it, dezone it, and leave private parties to determine its best uses (pp. 71-76). He regards price regulation of telecommunications services as inevitably and thankfully doomed by protean technologies and increasing competition (pp. 117-29). In place of the universal service subsidy, Huber counts on market forces to provide cheap basic access just as they already provide cheap fast food (pp. 130-41). The FCC sets technical standards quickly but incorrectly; [c]ompetition delivers real standards more slowly but far more robustly (p. 161). The telecommunications industry will deliver these and other triumphs, claims Huber, once it escapes from commission-law

Telecommunications policies: Determinants and impact

This paper presents new data, in the form of four indices, on liberalization policies and the independence of regulators for a cross-section of countries. These indices are combined with a comprehensive set of performance, institutional and political data to analyze both the determinants and the impact of telecommunications policies. The authors find that liberalization policies are negatively associated with the degree to which countries have an interventionist tradition, but not with the partisan ideology of reforming countries per se. They also find that countries where the institutional endowment constrains less the behavior of the executive bodies, and countries with a stronger incumbent, are more prone to create truly independent regulatory agencies. There is weak evidence that the creation of independent regulatory agencies has a positive effect on network penetration when the endogeneity of regulatory independence is taken into account.telecommunications; liberalization; institutions;

Telecommunications policies: Measurement and determinants

This paper presents new data on telecommunications reform for a cross section of countries. We measure telecommunications reform along two dimensions: entry barriers and regulatory independence. This data set is combined with a comprehensive set of performance, institutional and political data to analyze the determinants of telecommunications policies. We find that entry barriers are positively associated with the degree to which countries have an interventionist legal tradition, but they are unrelated to the partisan ideology of reforming governments. We also find that countries with weak protection of investors' quasi-rents by other means, and countries with a larger incumbent are more prone to create independent regulatory agencies, although this last result is statistically weaker.Telecommunications policies; Liberalization; Regulation;

Реструктуризація ринку електроенергії в контексті трансформаційних процесів і ціноутворення

The study introduces several most significant empirical and analytical findings covering the issue of electricity restructuring. In this regard, it detailes the dataset on electricity framework in order to investigate tendencies and the main challenges in the market structure following the regulation and deregulation processes of the electricity sector, as well as the consequences for pricing. The purpose of the study is to analyze key aspects of the restructuring of electric energy markets in order to determine the main challenges related to justification of the optimal structure of the industry with this framework, as well as to establish the dependence between reforms, structural transformations and price volatility in the energy market. It should be noted that deregulation and restructuring of energy companies have been determined by the transition to competitive relations and made it possible to solve significant problems in different fields of activity, including tariffs, participants’ interests, energy efficiency, etc. Consequently, reforming of the energy market structural components should be comprehensively implemented, in order to avoid fragmentary imbalances and the impact of price distortions on the participants of the electricity market.Дослідження спрямовано на формування ключових практичних і аналітичних висновків, що стосуються проблем реструктуризації електроенергетики. Для цього виявлено найбільш значущі структурні особливості функціонування електроенергетичного ринку, що дозволило висвітлити деякі існуючі тенденції і основні проблеми в структурі енергоринку, пов'язані з процесами регулювання і дерегулювання, а також проаналізувати вплив трансформаційних процесів на встановлення цін на електроенергію, на прикладі ринку електричної енергії України, що перебуває у стадії реформування. Результати дослідження отримані із застосуванням методів порівняння, ретроспективного і аналізу, методів узагальнення і систематизації, а також методів кореляційного і регресійного аналізу. Проведений аналіз предмета дослідження дозволяє зробити висновок, що дерегулювання і реструктуризація енергетичних компаній були визначені в якості переходу до конкурентних відносин і дозволили вирішити значні проблеми в різних сферах господарювання. Отже, реформа структурних складових енергоринку має здійснюватися комплексно, для уникнення фрагментарних диспропорцій і впливу цінових спотворень для функціонування учасників ринку електроенергії

How product market reforms lubricate shock adjustment in the euro area

The essay sets out what product market reforms are, as well as the main measurement issues, followed by an analysis of how such reforms lubricate adjustment processes in EMU, in particular via the “competitiveness channelâ€. Attention is paid to the short-run and longer-run aspects of adjustments to shocks and the scant empirical evidence on the role of product markets in adjustment is discussed.  The essay investigates empirically the need for product market reforms in the euro area, based on the KLEMS data set. Two questions are addressed: how likely is it for euro area countries to experience an asymmetric shock, and what empirical evidence can we deduce about eurozone countries' capacities to adjust to asymmetric shocks? The approach is disaggregated and highlights (especially services) sectors with relatively greater adjustment problems.  The record of product market reforms of the euro area countries is briefly summarized. The paper shows that substantial reforms have been undertaken, yet, there is considerable evidence that the eurozone, and in particular with respect to services, could significantly intensify product market reforms and thereby augment the net benefits of having a single currency. Subsequently, product market reforms are placed in the context of wider reforms efforts (complementarities e.g. with labour and financial markets) as well as in the two-tier institutional structure of the euro area and the EU at large (given cross-border spillovers and the case for coordination). Designing reforms in this euro area context is briefly discussed. A final section with five “policy messages†concludes the essay.adjustment, product market reforms, asymmetric shocks, Pelkmans, Acedo Montoya, Maravalle

The economy-wide effects of further trade reforms in Tunisia's services sectors

The purpose of this paper is to benchmark Tunisia against other emerging economies in terms of the regulatory barriers affecting particular services sectors, and to assess the economy-wide effects of further liberalizing these services trade restrictions, compared with reducing the dispersion in barriers to its merchandise trade. On the basis of a rather restricted sample of services sectors, partial regulatory reform would yield gains roughly equivalent to full unilateral reform of manufacturing tariffs, but roughly one-tenth the gains from full bilateral reform of border protection in agriculture with the European Union. The adjustment costs associated with these services trade reforms would be minimal. The paper identifies the reasons why the gains from these services reforms are relatively small, and argues that a wider set of reforms could provide win-win outcomes and even fewer adjustment costs. By contrast, the gains in agriculture and manufacturing tend to come at the expense of domestic output in the reforming sectors -- the gains are greater, but so too are the adjustment costs.Transport Economics Policy&Planning,Banks&Banking Reform,Emerging Markets,Economic Theory&Research,Markets and Market Access

Infrastructure regulation and poverty reduction in developing countries: a review of the evidence and a research agenda

Poverty reduction is a primary goal of development policy. In large parts of the World people have to live on meagre incomes and have limited access to infrastructure services, such as mains water, safe sanitation, mains power supplies, maintained roads and telephones. In response, more and more infrastructure provision has been opened up to private investment over the last two decades and regulatory institutions have been introduced to protect the public interest in the absence of state ownership. In this paper the role of infrastructure regulation in poverty reduction is investigated drawing on the published evidence. The conclusion is that the evidence is both patchy and sometimes contradictory. There is mixed knowledge regarding the extent to which regulators address poverty issues and about the results of regulatory decisions. The paper concludes by proposing a future research agenda aimed at improving our understanding of the ways in which infrastructure regulation impacts on poverty, with the objective of improving actual regulatory policy in developing economies