Successful electricity industry reform depends on the presence of an appropriately staffed regulatory agency for the liberalised sector. However developing countries can have resource constraints that make the establishment of an effective regulatory agency difficult. This paper attempts an...

This paper proposes a model of workplace-specific unions that integrates two (conflicting) views of what unions do: one that unions mainly engage in rent extraction, the other that unions mainly engage in rent creation by providing agency services that increase workplace productivity. In our...

International comparisons can be used to study relative efficiency of decision-making units in an industry in a wider context. In particular, cross-country comparisons can, help regulators of natural monopoly firms to assess the relative performance of their regulation regime and national firms...

In a New Keynesian macroeconomic model under credible commitment, price level targeting dominates inflation targeting. But with sufficient inflation aversion the inflation targeting central bank can produce quantitatively similar results to one targeting the price level. The current degree of...

The aim of this article is the development of models for converging economies. After discussing models of balanced growth, univariate models of the gap between per capital income in two economies are examined. The preferred models combine unobserved components with an error correction mechanism...

This paper provides an empirical evaluation of the temporal efficiency of the US Acid Rain Program, which implemented a nationwide market for trading and banking sulphur dioxide (SO2) emission allowances. We first develop a model of efficient banking and select appropriate parameter values. Then...

This paper applies the concept of regulatory threat to analyse the electricity supply industry in Germany, where in contrast to other European member states, there is no ex-ante regulation of network access charges. Instead, network access relies on industrial self-regulation and ex-post control...

How to treat transmission constraints in electricity markets that are not based on a pool but on bilateral trading? Three approaches are currently discussed: First, the system operator resolves constraints and socialises costs; second, physical transmission contracts; third, locational charging...

This paper evaluates the link between the diffusion of electricity and the increase in labour productivity growth in the manufacturing sector during the inter-war period. A comparative analysis of the USA, Britain, Germany, and Japan shows that the trend acceleration in labour productivity is...

This paper sets out to provide a risk-management tool (namely the distribution of the stock price of a warrant-issuing firm) and at the same time resolves an outstanding issue between the theory and the empirical evidence of the warrant pricing literature. In their seminal article on warrant...