Price controls are a contentious topic in society and hence a good source for economics classroom engagement. The standard textbook analysis of price controls is lacking, however. This paper presents real-world examples and classroom exercises on the topic of price controls. The exercises...

This report is designed to be a self-contained introduction to performance-based regulation (PBR) with an emphasis on the energy sector in North America. The main topics include: key differences between PBR and traditional cost-of-service regulation (COSR), the various forms of PBR and their...

This paper integrates two separate branches of the law and economics literature to demonstrate the two-sided risk of market exclusion by a vertically-integrated firm (VIF) with upstream and downstream market power. The ratio of downstream (retail) to upstream (wholesale) price margins is key to...

Broadband, or high-speed access to the Internet, has generated significant economic benefits. Certain regulations, however, are slowing investment and deterring entry into the broadband market. In this statement, we make two recommendations that would remedy these regulatory defects and thereby...

A primary objective of performance-based regulation (PBR) is to increase the regulated firm’s incentives for efficiency relative to traditional rate-of-return regulation. The strength of those incentives is referred to as the power of the regulatory regime (PRR). The PRR depends on (i) the...

This note reveals that while the monopolist has ideal incentives to innovate, consistent with Schumpeter’s original hypothesis, the oligopolist’s incentive to innovate is non-monotonic in its market share and approaches that of the monopolist in the limit as the number of identical firms...

This paper examines price level regulation in two-sided markets with linear demands. We find that (i) price level regulation increases the price allocation asymmetry when reservation prices differ between the two sides of the market; and (ii) changes in the level of the price cap are divided...

This paper integrates two separate branches of the law and economics literature to demonstrate the two-sided risk of market exclusion by a vertically-integrated firm (VIF) with upstream and downstream market power. The ratio of retail to wholesale price-cost margins is key. A margin ratio that...

We employ a Cournot model with interdependent demands to explore the interaction between demand and cost complementarities in mitigating upward pricing pressure, post-merger. The analysis reveals that even substantial increases in the HHI post-merger need not raise competitive concerns when...