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Reviving regulation - and antitrust

Journal Article · · Electricity Journal
The ills of utility regulation have been overstated by interested players and at least some academics. One can have the best features of both competition and regulation by a paradigm that combines some regulation with stronger antitrust enforcement. It is now obvious that the success of deregulation actually depends crucially on whether antitrust policy is effective in preventing monopoly. In fact, antitrust policies have been extremely weak since 1980, under a deliberate Reagan administration withdrawal of enforcement. Where deregulation has led to market dominance, which antitrust cannot well cure, the policy changes of the 1980`s may have created costly and irreversible mistakes in a number of major sectors. Yet fast-paced events are currently creating a frenzy of even more deregulation, supposedly to fit new {open_quotes}revolutions{close_quotes} in technology and the impacts of large mergers. Instead it is time for particular caution in electricity.
OSTI ID:
135966
Journal Information:
Electricity Journal, Journal Name: Electricity Journal Journal Issue: 5 Vol. 7; ISSN ELEJE4; ISSN 1040-6190
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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