The regulatory lag- the number of years between price reviews - determines the power of a price-cap contract. Around the world, most price-cap contracts have a regulatory lag of four to five years. However, this practice doesn’t seem to be based on any optimality consideration. Schmalensee...

A decade long experience shows that monitoring the performance of public and private monopolies in South America is proving to be the hard part of the reform process. The operators who control most of the information needed for regulatory purposes have little interest in volunteering their...

July 2001 - How do you set up a regulatory accounting system for a sector no longer under the government's direct control, after railways have been turned over to concessions in varied circumstances and where available information is provided mainly by private operators? As a result of...

The structural changes that come with privatization may induce a reconsideration of the regulations defined during the early stages of privatization. - Chisari and Estache summarize the main lessons emerging from Argentina's experience, including universal service obligations in concession...

November 1999 - Argentina's policy for reform of the transport sector has been a mix of competition in the market and, through concessions, for the market. Capacity has increased, demand has grown, and prices and services have improved. Public financing has not been eliminated but it has been...

Learning to regulate fairly, effectively, and at arm's length may be the main challenge governments face in attracting private investment and financing to the transport sector. - Governments should increasingly be able to rely on the private sector for help supporting (and financing) the...