Readings

Texts

Viscusi, W. Kip, John M. Vernon, and Joseph E. Harrington. Economics of Regulation and Antitrust. 3rd ed. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2000.

Supplementary Readings

This reading list is provided for completeness and contains the references for almost all of the works cited in the class handouts for the course.

Class 1 - The Role of Government.

Crews, C. W. Ten Thousand Commandments: An Annual Snapshot of the Federal Regulatory State. 2002 Edition. Washington D.C.: Cato Institute, 2002.
Available at: http://cei.org/10KC.

Class 2 - Markets.

Cowling, K., and D. C. Mueller. "The Social Costs of Monopoly Power." Economic Journal 88 (December 1978): 727-48.

Harberger, A. C. "Monopoly and Resource Allocation." American Economic Review 44 (1954): 77-87.

Leibenstein, H. "Allocative Efficiency vs. X-Inefficiency." American Economic Review 56, 3 (1966): 392-415.

Class 6 - Public Enterprise.

Alchian, A. A. "Some Economics of Property Rights." Il Politico 30 (1965): 816-829.

Baron, D. P., and R. B. Myerson. "Regulating a Monopolist with Unknown Costs." Econometrica 50 (1982): 911-930.

Boycko, M., A. Shleifer, and R. W. Vishny. "A Theory of Privatisation." Economic Journal 106 (1996): 309-19.

Domah, P. D., and M. G. Pollitt. "The Restructuring and Privatisation of Electricity Distribution and Supply Businesses in England and Wales: A Social Cost-Benefit Analysis." Fiscal Studies 22, 1 (2001): 107-146.

Gleaser, E. L. "Public Ownership in the American City." Harvard Institute of Economic Research Working Paper No. 1930. 2001.
Available at: http://www.economics.harvard.edu/

Hart, O., A. Shleifer, and R. W. Vishny. "The Proper Scope of Government: Theory and Application to Prisons." Quarterly Journal of Economics 112, 4 (1997): 1127-58.

Megginson, W. L., and J. M. Netter. "From State to Market: A Survey of Empirical Studies on Privatisation." Journal of Economic Literature 39, 2 (June 2001): 321-89.

Milgrom, P., and J. Roberts. "Bargaining Activity, Influence Costs, and the Organisation of Economic Activity." Chap. 3 in Perspectives on Positive Political Economy. Edited by J. E. Alt and K. A. Sheple. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990.

Niskanen, W. A. "The Peculiar Economics of Bureaucracy." American Economic Review, Papers and Proceedings 58 (1968): 298-305.

Parker, D., and K. Hartley. "Organisational Status and Performance: The Effects on Employment." Applied Economics 23 (1991): 403-416.

Peltzman, S. "Pricing in Public and Private Enterprises and Electric Utilities in the United States." Journal of Law and Economics 14 (1971): 109-147.

Vickers, J. S., and G. K. Yarrow. "Economic Perspectives on Privatisation." Journal of Economic Perspectives 5, 2 (1991): 111-132.

Class 7 - Regulating Natural Monopolies: Electric Power Example.

Demsetz, H. "Why Regulate Utilities?" Journal of Law and Economics 11 (1968): 55-65.

Joskow, P. "Restructuring, Competition and Regulatory Reform in the U.S. Electricity Sector." Journal of Economic Perspectives 11, 3 (1997): 119-138.

Shleifer, A. "A Theory of Yardstick Competition." Rand Journal of Economics 16 (1985): 319-327.

Class 8 - Franchise Bidding: The Case of Cable Television.

Pollitt, M. G. "The Declining role of the State in Infrastructure Investments in the UK." Chap. 8:1 in Private Initiatives in Infrastructure: Priorities, Incentives and Performance. Edited by M. Tsuji, S. V. Berg, and M. G. Pollitt. Aldershot: Edward Elgar, 2002.
Available at: http://www.econ.cam.ac.uk/.

Williamson, O. E. Markets and Hierarchies, Analysis and Antitrust Implications: A Study in the Economics of Internal Organization. New York: Free Press, 1975.

Williamson, O. E. "Franchise Bidding for Natural Monopolies – In General and with Respect to CATV." Bell Journal of Economics 7 (Spring 1976): 73-104.

Class 10 - Dynamic Issues in Natural Monopoly Regulation: Telecommunication Example 2.

Funk, J. L. "Competition between Regional Standards and the Success and Failure of Firms in the World-Wide Mobile Communication Market." Telecommunications Policy 22, 4/5 (1998): 419-441.

Binmore, K., and P. Klemperer. "The Biggest Auction Ever: The Sale of the British 3G Telecom Licences." Economic Journal 112 (Mar. 2002): C74-C96.

Class 11 - Transportation Regulation.

Morrison, S. A., and C. Winston. The Evolution of the Airline Industry. Washington D.C.: Brookings Institution, 1995.

Class 15 - Problems of Regulation: The Case of UK Railway Privatisation.

Evans, A. W. "Fatal Train Accidents on Britain’s Mainline Railways." Journal of the Royal Statistical Society A 163 (2000): 99-119.

Evans, A. W. "Are Train Accident Risks Increasing?" Modern Railways 59 (August 2002): 49-51.

Jones, L. P., P. Tandon, and I. Vogelsang. Selling Public Enterprise. A Cost-Benefit Methodology. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1990.

Class 16 - Problems of Regulation: The Case of Californian Electricity Deregulation

Hogan, W. Competitive Electricity Market Design: A Wholesale Primer. Cambridge, Mass.: Kennedy School, 1998.
Available at: http://www.hks.harvard.edu/fs/whogan/empr1298.pdf.

Joskow, P. "California's Electricity Crisis." Oxford Review of Economic Policy 17, 3 (2001): 365-388.

Sweeney, J. The California Electricity Crisis. Stanford: Hoover Institution, 2002.
Available at: (PDF)

Class 17 - Externalities.

Viscusi, W. K. Risk by Choice: Regulating Health and Safety in the Workplace. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 1983.

Class 18 - The Value of Life.

Beattie, J., J. Covey, L. Dolan, M. Hopkins, M. Jones-Lee, G. Lommes, N. Pidgeon, A. Robinson, and A. Spencer. "On the Contingent Valuations of Safety and the Safety of Contingent Valuations: Part 1 – Caveat Investigator." Journal of Risk and Uncertainty 17, 1 (1998): 5-25.

Brookshire, D., M. Thayer, W. Schulze and R. d’Arge. "Valuing Public Goods: A Comparison of Survey and Hedonic Approaches." American Economic Review 72 (1982): 165-77.

Dardis, R. "The Value of Life: New Evidence from the Marketplace." American Economic Review 70, 5 (1980): 1077-1082.

Class 20 - Environmental Regulation 2 – Markets for Clean Air.

Burtraw, D., A. Krupnick, E. Mansur, D. Austin, and D. Farrell. "Costs and Benefits of Reducing Air Pollutants Related to Acid Rain." Contemporary Economic Policy 16, 4 (Oct. 1998): 379-400.

Ellerman, A. D. "Ex Post Evaluation of Tradable Permits: The U.S. SO2 Cap-and-Trade Program." Center for Energy and Environmental Policy, MIT, Research WP-2003-003.
Available at: http://web.mit.edu/ceepr/www/publications/emissions.html.

Ellerman, A. D., P. L. Joskow, and D. Harrison, Jr. Emissions Trading in the U.S.: Experience, Lessons and Considerations for Greenhouse Gases. Report for Pew Center on Climate Change. Arlington, VA, 2003.

Sweeney, J. The California Electricity Crisis. Stanford: Hoover Institution, 2002.
Available at: http://www.hoover.org/publications/books/8325.

Class 21 - Environmental Regulation 3 – Regulating the Global Commons.

Jacoby, H. D., R. S. Eckaus, A. D. Ellerman, R. G. Prinn, D. M. Reiner, and Z. Yang. CO₂ Emissions Limits: Economic Adjustments and the Distribution of Burdens. Report No.9, MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change. 1996.
Available at: http://web.mit.edu/globalchange/www/rpt9.html.

Reilly, J. M., H. D. Jacoby, and R. G. Prinn. Multi-Gas Contributors to Global Climate Change: Climate Impacts and Mitigation Costs of Non-CO₂ Gases. Report for Pew Center on Climate Change. Arlington, V.A., 2003.

Tol, R. S. J. "The Marginal Costs of Greenhouse Emissions." Energy Journal 20, 1 (1999): 61-81.

Webster, M., C. Forest, J. Reilly, M. Babiker, D. Kicklighter, M. Mayer, R. Prinn, M. Sarofim, A. Sokolov, P. Stone, and C. Wang. Uncertainty Analysis of Climate Change and Policy Response. Report No. 95, MIT Joint Program on Science and Policy of Global Change. 2002.
Available at: http://web.mit.edu/globalchange/www/MITJPSPGC_Rpt95.pdf.

Class 22 - The Regulation of Workplace Safety.

Akerlof, G. A. "The Market for Lemons: Qualitative Uncertainty and the Market Mechanism." Quarterly Journal of Economics 84 (1970): 488-500.

Hersch, J., and W. K. Viscusi. "Cigarette Smoking, Seatbelt Use, and Differences in Wage-Risk Tradeoffs." Journal of Human Resources 25, 2 (1990): 202-27.

Moore, M. J., and W. K. Viscusi. "Doubling the Estimated Value of Life: Results Using New Occupational Fatality Data." Journal of Policy Analysis and Management 7 (1990): 476-90.

Ruser, J., and R. S. Smith. "The Effect of OSHA Records Check Inspections on Reported Occupational Injuries in Manufacturing Establishments." Journal of Risk and Uncertainty 1, 4 (1988): 415-35.

Viscusi, W. K., and M. J. Moore. "Workers’ Compensation: Wage Effects, Benefit Inadequacies, and the Value of Health Losses." Review of Economics and Statistics 69 (1987): 249-61.

Viscusi, W. K., and C. O’Connor. "Adaptive Responses to Chemical Labelling: Are Workers Baysian Decision Makers?" American Economic Review 74, 5 (1984): 942-56.

Class 23 - Pharmaceuticals.

Congressional Budget Office. How Increased Competition from Generic Drugs has affected Prices and Returns from the Pharmaceutical Industry. July 1998.
Available at: http://www.cbo.gov.

Nordhaus, W. D. Invention, Growth and Welfare. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1969.

Class 24 - Regulation of the Internet: Should the State have Protected Napster?

Landes, W. M., and R. A. Posner. "An Economic Analysis of Copyright Law." Journal of Legal Studies 18, 2 (1989): 325-36.