The Economics of Public Utilities: (196 The International Library of Critical Writings in Economics series)

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.

Table of Contents:
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 (1949–50), ‘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

About the Author :
Edited by Ray Rees, former Professor of Economics, University of Munich, Germany