De- and Re-Regulation of the Network Industries

De- and re-regulation of the network industries

PhD course

Fall semester 2014

October 6-10, 2014

Room ODY 10019.1, EPFL

This course aims at giving participants an insight into the de- and the re-regulation of the network industries, in particular the telecommunications, energy, water, transport and postal sectors. Participants will be introduced to the economic and regulatory aspects of the different sectors, with a special focus on EU legislation and its impact on Member States. The course will also focus on two particularly relevant theoretical perspectives on the liberalizing network industries, namely the new institutional economics perspective and the regulatory economics perspective.

Registration and coordination

The course is primarily offered to PhD students of EPFL, the European University Institute and Delft University of Technology. However, PhD students working on the network industries from other reputable Universities can also apply and will be admitted on a first-come-first- serve basis as long as the quotas are not filled. Maximum number of participants: 20.

Scientific coordination: Matthias Finger,

Administration: Patricia Defferrard,

Course objectives

The objective of this course is to offer the opportunity to participants to better understand the current restructuring of network industries, including energy, water, telecom, transport and postal sectors. Important aspects are the ongoing liberalization process, internationalization, re-regulation, as well as the multiplication of pressures on the provision of public service and the preservation of the infrastructures’ quality. Even though there are numerous industry specificities, which the participants will be introduced to, the course aims at providing a comprehensive overview of the transformation of the above mentioned infrastructures with a cross-sector and international perspective, as well as an in-depth presentation of the key theoretical elements necessary to understand the profound transformation processes especially with respect to institutions, technology, and policy.

The ongoing de-regulation and re-regulation processes lead to challenges at many levels: from the historical operator’s perspective, used to providing clearly defined services in a monopolistic environment, the exposure to competition requires fundamental organizational and managerial changes; at political level, there is a need for new regulation to accompany the liberalization process and to ensure that the advantages expected from competition ultimately benefit the general interest. At sector level, technological innovation and consumer demand on the one hand and underinvestment on the other hand exert conflicting pressures on the quality and the upgrading of the infrastructures and the related services. This course will address these different issues so as to highlight the complexity of sector specific de- and re- regulation.

Consequently, the participants may expect the following outcomes from this course:

• Understand the main stakes of the privatization and liberalization processes in the network industries
• Become familiar with the main political issues in the telecommunications, energy, water, postal and transport sectors
• Identify key actors of the deregulation and re-regulation process in Europe
• Become acquainted with the major EU Directives legislation on sector transformation in the different industries
• Recognize the principal concerns related to public service and understand the current debates around public service
• Become familiar with sector specific and competition regulation of the network industries
• Being able to appreciate the different technological characteristics of infrastructures and its relation to institutions and policy
• Understand the major challenges incumbent operators and new market players are confronted with
• Get to know some of the critical infrastructure-related challenges
• Reflect on the consequences of sector internationalization and convergence
• Understand the main theoretical approaches to the de- and re-regulating network industries

Pedagogical approach

Our pedagogical approach is based on adult learning, with a strong focus on the participants, valuing in particular their professional and research knowledge and experience. The course is focused on non-technical issues intended to complement the technical background of participants and give them a broader knowledge of the sectors, which is essential for those who seek to research one or several network industries.

For each topic, the professors will present the major issues, in order to offer the participants a basic knowledge of the sectors after which time will be made available for questions and debate. Participants may also submit specific topics which they would like to have addressed.

Requirements and Evaluation

Participants are requested to prepare the working sessions by reading the texts provided for that purpose (uploaded prior to the course). Participants are invited to prepare a 10 minutes presentation of their PhD research, to be presented on one of the scheduled afternoon sessions.

Participants will be assessed according to their active participation as well as the requirements determined by the professors in charge of the program in their respective institution. As for the participants who would like to obtain 2 credits for this course from EPFL, they will be assessed according to their active participation as well as to a 20-page paper they will hand in after the end of the course. This paper counts as the final exam. The paper shall focus on a selected aspect of one of the topics discussed during the working sessions, and preferably be related to the professional or research activities of the participants. Deadline for submission will be determined by the professors at the first working session.

Structure of the course

The course is structured into fifteen 90 minutes sessions, each of which addresses a particular topic. During the last afternoon session of each day, students’ presentations are scheduled. Each participant will have 10 minutes (strictly) to present an outline of his/her PhD research. This will be followed by short comments for no more than 10 minutes.

The following persons will teach in the course:

-Prof. Janice Beecher, Michigan State University (via videolink)

-Prof. Matthias Finger, EPFL

-Dr. Christian Jaag, EPFL and University of St.Gallen

-Prof. Rolf Künneke, Delft University of Technology

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Recommended literature for the preparation of the lectures

Monday October 6th 2014

1. Introduction (Finger)

Kessides, I.N. (2004). Reforming Infrastructure: Privatization, Regulation, and Competition.Washington DC: World Bank and Oxford University Press.

1. Postal services (Finger)
   Jaag, Christian (2014). Postal Sector Policy: from Regulation to Competition. Utilities Policy.
2. Regulatory Economics (Jaag)
   Crew, Michael and Paul Kleindorfer (2002). Regulatory Economics: Twenty Years of Progress? Journal of Regulatory Economics, 21:1, 2-22.

Tuesday October 7th 2014

1. Telecommunications

Parcu, Pier-Luigi and Virginia Silvestri (2014). Electronic Communications Regulation in Europer: an Overview of Past and Future Problems. Utilities Policy.

1. The European approach to regulation (Finger)

Finger, Matthias and Marc Laperrouza (2011). Liberalization of network industries in the European Union: evolving political issues. In: Matthias Finger and Rolf Künneke (Eds.). International Handbook of Network Industries.The Liberalization of Infrastucture.Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, pp.345-365.

1. The US approach to regulation (Beecher)

Beecher, Janice (2013). Economic regulation of utility infrastructure.In: Ingram, G. & K. Brandt (eds.). Infrastructure and Land Policies. East Lansing, MI: Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, pp.87-122.

Wednesday October 8th 2014

1. Institutional Economics (Künneke).Williamson, Oliver E., 1998. Transaction Cost Economics: How It Works, Where It Is Headed. De Economist, 146(1), 23-58.
2. Beyond markets and hierarchies (Künneke)Ostrom, Elinor, 2005, Doing Institutional Analysis: Digging Deeper Than markets and Hierarchies. In: Claude Ménard and Mary M. Shirley (Eds.), Handbook of New Institutional Analysis. Springer, Dordrecht, pp. 819-848.
3. Spiller, Pablo and Mariano Tommasi (2005). The institutions of regulation: an application to public utilities. In: Ménard, Claude and Mary Shirley (eds.). The Handbook of New Institutional Economics. New York: Springer, pp.515-5

Thursday October 9th 2014

1. Electricity (Finger)

Glachant, Jean-Michel and Sophia Ruester (2014). The EU Internal Electricity Market: Done Forever? Utilities Policy.

1. Firm Behavior Under Regulation (Finger)

Finger, Matthias and Carole Rentsch (2014). Yes, May, May Be: the Ambiguous Relation of State-Owned Enterprise with the State. Submitted to the Journal of Economic Policy Reform.

1. Conceptual elements (Finger)

Crettenand, Nicolas and Matthias Finger (2013). The alignment between institutions and technologies in network industries (with Nicolas Crettenand).Competition and Regulation in Network Industries, Vol.14, No.2, pp. 106-129.

Friday October 10th 2014

1. Air Transport (Finger)

Baumgartner, Marc and Matthias Finger (2014). European Air Transport Liberalization: Possible ways out of the Single European Sky Gridlock. Utilities Policy.

1. Railways (Finger)

Finger, Matthias (2014). Governance of Competition and Performnance in European Railways: an Analysis of five Cases. Utilities Policy.

1. Regulation for Consumer Protection (Finger)

Finger, Matthias and Dominique Finon (2011). From “Service Public” to Universal Service: the case of the European Union. In: Matthias Finger and Rolf Künneke (Eds.). International Handbook of Network Industries.The Liberalization of Infrastucture.Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, pp.54-69.

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