Access to well-secured, well-zoned and well-serviced land is a crucial condition for industrial and commercial investment. In many developing countries, where the land market remains underdeveloped and the land governance framework is weak, systemic policy and institutional reforms are needed to...

As a result of the distortions that have beset natural gas markets in the wake of partial wellhead deregulation under the Natural Gas Policy Act of 1978 (NGPA)-the most visible problem being the existence of increased prices amid a glut of deliverable supplies-concern has mounted about whether...

Throughout most of the last three decades, interstate natural gas pipeline companies-operating mainly as private carriers, buying gas supplies in the field and reselling them downstream'-have competed primarily on the basis of nonprice terms. Under the regime of wellhead regulation stemming from...

Many oil industry spokesmen who pleaded for a free market in the era of regulation are now urging the opposite: federal protection from low-cost imported oil. It is ironic that some economists should find merit in these arguments, particularly now that the very idea of free trade is facing the...

Like attempts at achieving effective regulation of economic activity where it is warranted, deregulation can entail hidden complexities and produce unintended outcomes. The principle that deregulation begets “second order” effects that may necessitate further regulatory reform is epitomized...

This paper examines the impact of improved trade facilitation measures and institutional capacity in a set of economies in transition Europe. Our results suggest that behind-the-border barriers play an important role in determining bilateral trade flows (controlling for the effects of tariffs,...