Michael Crew and David Parker have compiled a comprehensive, up-to-date and detailed analytical work on leading research issues in the economics of regulation. With contributions from international specialists in economic regulation, the Handbook provides a comprehensive discussion of major developments in both the theory and practice of regulatory economics. This book will be an indispensable source for both students and practitioners of regulation. The Handbook begins by looking at the principles, history and methods of regulation before turning to specialist themes including: pricing and social welfare regulating service quality consumer representation performance benchmarking environmental regulation calculating the cost of capital information revelation and incentives the economics of access charging regulatory governance regulatory policy in developing countries particular issues in the regulation of the telecommunications, energy, transport and water sectors. The International Handbook on Economic Regulation is essential reading for researchers in the economics of regulation and students of regulation on final year undergraduate and postgraduate degree courses. As a major reference work, it is of value and assistance to economists in regulatory offices, regulated companies and government departments.
As an essential component for economic growth, energy has a significant impact on the global economy. The need to meet growing energy demand has prompted cutting-edge innovation in clean technology in an attempt to realise environmental and cost objectives, whilst ensuring the security of energy supply. This Handbook offers a comprehensive review of the economics of energy, including contributions from a distinguished array of international specialists. It provides a thorough discussion of the major research issues in this topical field of economics. Themes addressed include the theory of energy supply, demand and policy, empirical modelling of energy demand, holistic energy models, an analysis of coal, gas, electricity, oil and the markets within which they operate, and a discussion of the current key energy policy issues. The topics of pricing, transmission, regulation, security, energy efficiency, new technologies and climate change are also discussed. The International Handbook on the Economics of Energy presents a comprehensive overview of the state-of-the-art research making it an indispensable reference for researchers, advanced students, practitioners and policy-makers alike.
This collection of articles offers a comprehensive assessment of the subtle but nevertheless pervasive economic infrastructure of corruption. It provides suitable core or adjunct reading for law school, graduate, and undergraduate courses on international economics, international relations and international law. American Society of International Law This exhaustive collection, edited by Rose-Ackerman, cannot be called anything but excellent. . . . Overall, a wonderful addition to the literature. Highly recommended. C.J. Talele, Choice Susan Rose-Ackerman is a world-class economist and an authority on the economics of corruption. This is a fine reference volume that every economist interested in this important subject will want to have as a ready reference. Jagdish Bhagwati, Columbia University, US Economic research on corruption aims both to isolate the economic effects of quid pro quo deals between agents and third parties, and to suggest how legal and institutional reforms might curb harms and enhance benefits. In this comprehensive Handbook, top scholars in the field provide specially commissioned essays, both theoretical and empirical, exploring both types of research. The Handbook begins with an introductory essay by the editor, followed by two chapters written by leading exponents of cross-country research. However, the focus of the Handbook is on research at the micro level, where policy can be made and evaluated. These microeconomic studies fall into several overlapping categories. The first group includes studies that link corrupt incentives to institutional structures, particularly the organization of the state. The second draws implications from surveys of households or businesses and from controlled experiments. The third concentrates on particular sectors such as education, tax administration, public works, customs services, and pharmaceuticals. Finally, two chapters assess corruption in the transition away from socialism in Europe and Asia.
Privatization has dominated industrial restructuring programs since the 1980s and continues to do so. This authoritative and accessible Handbook considers all aspects of this key issue, including: the theory of privatization; privatization in transition, developed and developing economies; as well the economic regulation of privatized industries.
This major new work consists of carefully commissioned original and incisive contributions from leading scholars in the field of international economic law. Covering a full range of topics, the Handbook provides an accessible treatment of the law in each area, as well as a thoughtful synthesis and discussion of related public policy issues from a broadly social science perspective.
Regulation is often thought of as an activity that restricts behaviour and prevents the occurrence of certain undesirable activities, but the influence of regulation can also be enabling or facilitative, as when a market could potentially be chaotic if uncontrolled. This Handbook provides a clear and authoritative discussion of the major trends and issues in regulation over the last thirty years, together with an outline of prospective developments. It brings together contributions from leading scholars from a range of disciplines and countries. Each chapter offers a broad overview of key current issues and provides an analysis of different perspectives on those issues. Experiences in different jurisdictions and insights from various disciplines are drawn upon, and particular attention is paid to the challenges that are encountered when specific approaches are applied in practice. Contributors develop their own distinctive arguments relating to the central issues in regulation and apply scholarly rigour and clear writing to matters of high policy-relevance. The essays are original, accessible, and agenda-setting, and the Handbook will be essential reading both to students and researchers and to with regulatory and regulated professionals.
Since the 1990s many of the assumptions that anchored the study of governance in international political economy (IPE) have been shaken loose. Reflecting on the intriguing and important processes of change that have occurred, and are occurring, Profess
'Political science has leap-frogged law, economics, and sociology to become the dominant discipline contributing to regulatory studies. David Levi-Faur's volume taps the rich veins of regulatory scholarship that have made this the case. It brings together the talented new network of politics scholars intrigued by the importance of the changing nature of state and non-state regulation. Their fresh insights complement important new work by established stars of the field. Definitely a book to have on your shelf when in search of exciting theoretical approaches to politics.' – John Braithwaite, Australian National University '"Regulation", in its manifold forms, is the central process of contemporary governance, as it seeks to blend the dynamism of market economies with responsiveness to political and normative demands for health, safety, environmental protection, and fairness. Understanding regulation's varieties, vulnerabilities, and virtues has become a significant focus of academic research and theory. This volume provides an extraordinary survey of research in that field – a survey remarkable in its comprehensiveness, outstanding in the quality of the contributions by leading regulatory scholars from different nations and academic disciplines.' – Robert A. Kagan, University of California, Berkeley, US 'An authoritative collection by a range of contributors with outstanding reputations in the field.' – Michael Moran, WJM Mackenzie Professor of Government 'This is an extraordinarily useful one-stop-shop for a wide range of traditions and approaches to the political aspects of regulation. David Levi-Faur has assembled a fine collection that by reporting on the state of the art also shows the way ahead for a discipline that has to capture and explain dramatic changes in real-world regulatory philosophies and policies.' – Claudio Radaelli, University of Exeter, UK 'This is an unusually impressive edited volume. Its contributors include the leading academic experts on government regulation from around the world. Its several clearly-written and informative essays address the most important topics, issues, and debates that have engaged students of regulatory politics. I strongly recommend this volume to anyone interested in understanding the breadth and depth of contemporary scholarship on the political dimensions of regulation.' – David Vogel, University of California, Berkeley, US This unique Handbook offers the most up-to-date and comprehensive, state-of-the-art reviews of the politics of regulation. It presents and discusses the core theories and concepts of regulation in response to the rise of the regulatory state and regulatory capitalism, and in the context of the 'golden age of regulation'. Its ten sections include forty-nine chapters covering issues as diverse and varied as: theories of regulation; historical perspectives on regulation; regulation of old and new media; risk regulation, enforcement and compliance; better regulation; civil regulation; European regulatory governance; and global regulation. As a whole, it provides an essential point of reference for all those working on the political, social, and economic aspects of regulation. This comprehensive resource will be of immense value to scholars and policymakers in numerous fields and disciplines including political science, public policy and administration, international relations, regulation, international law, business and politics, European studies, regional studies, and development studies.
This book offers theoretical and methodological guidelines for researching the complex regulation of local infrastructure, utilities and public services in the context of rapid urbanisation, technological change, and climate change. It examines the interactions between regulators, public officers, infrastructure and utilities firms, public service providers, citizens, and civil society organisations. It contains contributions from academics and practitioners from various disciplinary perspectives and from many regions of the world, illustrated with case studies from several sectors including water, natural gas and electricity distribution, local public transport, district heating, urban waste, and environmental services.
Since the summer of 2007, the world scenario has been dominated by the US sub-prime mortgage crisis and its repercussions on global financial markets and economic growth. As banks around the world wrote down their losses and governments intervened to rescue domestic financial institutions, financial distress severely hit the real economy leading to what has been widely defined as the worst recession since the 1930s. Under these conditions, along with the immediate concern for stemming the effects of the crisis, policy-makers around the world have been debating the long-term measures that have to be adopted in order to reduce the likelihood of future crises and to ensure stable economic growth. Although this debate has not yet produced significant transformations, it indicates a renewed concern about the institutional architecture that is meant to govern the global economic and financial system. This book tackles the issue of what the governance of the global economic and financial system looks like and what the prospects for its reform are. Specifically, the book will address the following three main themes: Governance: What is governance in the international economic system? What forms does it take? How did it come about? How can we study it?; Functions of governance: What are the functions of global economic governance? Who performs them? What are the rules and mechanisms that make global governance possible? Problems and prospects of governance: What are the problems in global economic governance? Is there a trade-off between legitimacy and efficiency? What are the prospects for reform of global economic governance in the aftermath of the global financial crisis? This book will: _ Provide a thorough analysis of the issues at stake in designing international rules and institutions able to govern the global economy; _ Illustrate and analyze virtually all the main institutions, rules, and arrangements that make up global economic governance, inscribing them within the function these institutions, rules, and arrangements are meant to perform; _ Discuss the problems that affect today’s global economic governance and assess alternative proposals to reform the international financial architecture.
