Privatized utilities : regulatory reform and corporate control

Abstract

The academic literature has developed a number of "standard prescriptions" for the privatization and regulation of utilities. The main purpose of this thesis is to qualify some of them, and build on the qualifications to find new insights. Although these prescriptions have not been endorsed universally, they permeate most of the theoretical and empirical work done in the recent past. In general, they constitute a benchmark that has enriched our understanding of the many economic issues related to the role and performance of privatized, regulated firms. These standard prescriptions are broadly based on the British experience and some specific strands of economic theory. By and large, progress has been made in reforming countries using these standard prescriptions. But the British experience can today be complemented with the experience of other countries, and with new developments in several fields of economic theory. The evolution itself of the British privatized industries, interacting with the evolution of the political cycle in the U.K., also helps to give a more balanced and complex view of this field.