In this two-volume set, Rees (economics, U. of Munich, Germany) has collected 64 previously published journal articles that have developed the main framework of economic analysis of public utilities. The articles concern themselves with the fundamental problems of optimal price and capacity determination in public utilities in relation to their economic and technological characteristics (e.g. that they are "network supply systems characterised generally by high capital intensity, economies of scale and scope, high joint costs, short run capacity rigidities and long investment lead times, high sunk costs, cyclically fluctuating demands and strong elements of natural monopoly") and independent of institutional frameworks. General theory is covered in sections on marginal cost pricing, Ramsey pricing, peak load pricing, pricing under uncertainty, two-part tariffs and nonlinear pricing, and game theoretic approaches. Applications of general theory are explored in relation to rail, electricity, and telephone pricing. With a few exceptions, the articles originally appeared between the 1950s and the early 1990s. Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
Public utilities supply a set of goods and services that are central to the workings of a modern economy. Their importance in the economy's structure is matched by the interest and complexity of the problems they present for economic analysis.
This two-volume set includes the most important and influential papers in the development of public utilities economics. It includes early contributions on marginal cost pricing as well as its later extensions dealing with peak loads, financial constraints, indivisibilities, uncertainty, and non linear tariffs. The selection includes a balance between partial and general equilibrium analysis. More recent game theoretic approaches to some of the classic problems are also included. Three important types of public utility - electricity, telephones and rail transport - are covered in some depth.
This important collection will be a valuable reference source to researchers and policymakers alike.
Public utilities supply a set of goods and services that are central to the workings of a modern economy. Their importance in the economys structure is matched by the interest and complexity of the problems they present for economic analysis.
Contents:
Volume I
Acknowledgements
Introduction Ray Rees
PART I MARGINAL COST PRICING
1. J. Maurice Clark (1911), Rates For Public Utilities
2. Raymond T. Bye (1929), Composite Demand and Joint Supply in Relation to
Public Utility Rates
3. Harold Hotelling (1938), The General Welfare in Relation to Problems of
Taxation and of Railway and Utility Rates
4. Harold Hotelling (1939), The Relation of Prices to Marginal Costs in an
Optimum System
5. William Vickrey (1948), Some Objections to Marginal-Cost Pricing
6. Nancy Ruggles (194950), Recent Developments in the Theory of Marginal
Cost Pricing
7. R.H. Coase (1970), The Theory of Public Utility Pricing and Its
Application
8. Ralph Turvey (1969), Marginal Cost
PART II RAMSEY PRICING
9. F.P. Ramsey (1927), A Contribution to the Theory of Taxation
10. M. Boiteux (1971), On the Management of Public Monopolies Subject to
Budgetary Constraints
11. William J. Baumol and David F. Bradford (1970), Optimal Departures From
Marginal Cost Pricing
12. R. Rees (1968), Second-Best Rules for Public Enterprise Pricing
13. Martin S. Feldstein (1972), Distributional Equity and the Optimal
Structure of Public Prices
14. Egbert Dierker (1991), The Optimality of Boiteux-Ramsey Pricing
15. W.A. Brock and W.D. Dechert (1985), Dynamic Ramsey Pricing
PART III PEAK LOAD PRICING
16. M. Boiteux (1960), Peak-Load Pricing
17. Peter O. Steiner (1957), Peak Loads and Efficient Pricing
18. Jack Hirshleifer (1958), Peak Loads and Efficient Pricing: Comment
19. Oliver E. Williamson (1966), Peak-Load Pricing and Optimal Capacity
under Indivisibility Constraints
20. Herbert Mohring (1970), The Peak Load Problem with Increasing Returns
and Pricing Constraints
21. John C. Panzar (1976), A Neoclassical Approach to Peak Load Pricing
22. Michael Crew and Paul Kleindorfer (1971), Marshall and Turvey on Peak
Load or Joint Product Pricing
23. David A. Starrett (1978), Marginal Cost Pricing of Recursive Lumpy
Investments
24. Ray Rees (1986), Indivisibilities, Pricing and Investment: The Case of
the Second Best
25. H.S.E. Gravelle (1976), The Peak Load Problem with Feasible Storage
PART IV PRICING UNDER UNCERTAINTY
26. Gardner Brown, Jr. and M. Bruce Johnson (1969), Public Utility Pricing
and Output Under Risk
27. Michael L. Visscher (1973), Welfare-Maximizing Price and Output with
Stochastic Demand: Comment
28. Dennis W. Carlton (1977), Peak Load Pricing with Stochastic Demand
29. Michael A. Crew and Paul R. Kleindorfer (1976), Peak Load Pricing with a
Diverse Technology
30. Roger Sherman and Michael Visscher (1978), Second Best Pricing with
Stochastic Demand
31. John C. Panzar and David S. Sibley (1978), Public Utility Pricing under
Risk: The Case of Self-Rationing
32. John Tschirhart and Frank Jen (1979), Behavior of a Monopoly Offering
Interruptible Service
33. Robert Wilson (1989), Efficient and Competitive Rationing
Name Index
Volume II
Acknowledgements
An introduction by the editor to both volumes appears in Volume I
PART I TWO-PART TARIFFS AND NONLINEAR PRICING
1. Andre Gabor (1955), A Note on Block Tariffs
2. Walter Y. Oi (1971), A Disneyland Dilemma: Two-Part Tariffs for a Mickey
Mouse Monopoly
3. Yew-Kwang Ng and Mendel Weisser (1974), Optimal Pricing with a Budget
Constraint The Case of the Two-Part Tariff
4. Robert D. Willig (1978), Pareto-Superior Nonlinear Outlay Schedules
5. M. Barry Goldman, Hayne E. Leland and David S. Sibley (1984), Optimal
Nonuniform Prices
6. Leonard J. Mirman and David Sibley (1980), Optimal Nonlinear Prices for
Multiproduct Monopolies
7. Donald J. Brown and Geoffrey Heal (1980), Two-Part Tariffs, Marginal Cost
Pricing and Increasing Returns in a General Equilibrium Model
8. Rajiv Vohra (1990), On the Inefficiency of Two-Part Tariffs
PART II GAME THEORETIC APPROACHES
9. Gerald R. Faulhaber (1975), Cross-Subsidization: Pricing in Public
Enterprises
10. S.C. Littlechild (1975), Common Costs, Fixed Charges, Clubs and Games
11. W.W. Sharkey (1982), Suggestions for a Game-Theoretic Approach to Public
Utility Pricing and Cost Allocation
12. Leonard J. Mirman, Yair Tauman and Israel Zang (1985), Supportability,
Sustainability, and Subsidy-Free Prices
PART III RAIL PRICING
13. F.W. Taussig (1891), A Contribution to the Theory of Railway Rates
14. A.C. Pigou (1913), Railway Rates and Joint Costs
15. F.W. Taussig (1913), Railway Rates and Joint Costs: Reply
16. Ronald R. Braeutigam (1979), Optimal Pricing with Intermodal
Competition
PART IV ELECTRICITY PRICING
17. William J. Hausman and John L. Neufeld (1984), Time-of-Day Pricing in
the U.S. Electric Power Industry at the Turn of the Century
18. Ralph Turvey (1968), Peak-Load Pricing
19. John T. Wenders (1976), Peak Load Pricing in the Electric Utility
Industry
20. John T. Wenders and Lester D. Taylor (1976), Experiments in
Seasonal-Time-of-Day Pricing of Electricity to Residential Users
21. Michael L. Telson (1975), The Economics of Alternative Levels of
Reliability for Electric Power Generation Systems
22. M.G. Marchand (1974), Pricing Power Supplied on an Interruptible Basis
23. Roger E. Bohn, Michael C. Caramanis and Fred C. Schweppe (1984), Optimal
Pricing in Electrical Networks over Space and Time
24. Chi-Keung Woo (1990), Efficient Electricity Pricing with
Self-Rationing
PART V TELEPHONE PRICING
25. Arthur Hazlewood (1951), Optimum Pricing as Applied to Telephone
Service
26. S.C. Littlechild (1970), Peak-Load Pricing of Telephone Calls
27. M.G. Marchand (1973), The Economic Principles of Telephone Rates under a
Budgetary Constraint
28. Bridger M. Mitchell (1978), Optimal Pricing of Local Telephone Service
29. Shmuel S. Oren and Stephen A. Smith (1981), Critical Mass and Tariff
Structure in Electronic Communications Markets
30. Padmanabhan Srinagesh (1991), Mixed Linear-Nonlinear Pricing with
Bundling
31. Karen B. Clay, David S. Sibley and Padmanabhan Srinagesh (1992), Ex Post
vs. Ex Ante Pricing: Optional Calling Plans and Tapered Tariffs
Name Index
Edited by Ray Rees, former Professor of Economics, University of Munich, Germany
