We present the findings of economic research regarding the issues surrounding net neutrality and regulation of the internet under Title II of the Communications Act. Our purpose here is to review what has been demonstrated in the economics literature rather than to advocate particular decisions...

We consider a possible determinant of regulatory decisions by public utility commissioners: the desire to remain in office. We examine regulatory exit, where a regulator leaves a commission during a term or is not re-appointed/re-elected. With data from US states, we empirically investigate...

The United States has a long tradition of commission style regulation of privately owned utilities. This fact has both advantages and disadvantages. On the plus side producers, political bodies, regulatory agencies, courts, consumers, and other players are fully adapted to the idea and practice...

In this article, we suggest ways in which these issues require an entirely different approach than is traditionally used in energy policy. Instead of treating these policy issues as problems seeking a particular “technical” solution, we believe that policymakers should recognize that these...

In this paper, this challenge of regulating in a time of rapid and uncertain change is examined. It begins with an examination of the traditional role of regulation, namely that of controlling the exercise of market and political power, which left unchecked would limit investment in services....

Stakeholders play at least two roles in utility regulation: Some receive benefits, such as customers protected from monopoly power. Stakeholders also influence regulation by, for instance, commenting in proceedings. Most studies on stakeholder relations focus on engagement, such as through...

The internationalization of infrastructure raises the issue of internationalization of regulatory governance. By internationalization of infrastructure, I mean the presence if not predominance of cross-border interconnections, ownership, interdependencies, spillovers, and the like. Such...

There are three basic approaches to mitigating this risk; namely, institutional instruments that limit the possibility of government opportunism, financial instruments that decrease financial risk, and investment strategies, such as choosing technologies that may not be cost-minimizing but that...

I describe key concepts for measuring utility costs, with special emphasis on telecommunications. I explain the differences between economic and accounting measures for cost analysis and their usefulness. Economic concepts for understanding marginal costs, fixed costs, shared costs, and...

I examine the validity of the arguments for regulating Google search and find that they are insufficient and that regulation would likely be counterproductive. Google search does not fit the traditional frameworks for justifying regulatory control, namely, the public utility concept, common...