The Privatization of Public Utilities: The Case of Italy (Central Issues in Contemporary Economic Theory and Policy)

The privatization of public utilities raises several complex issues. The privatization decision involves not only the transfer of ownership from the public to the private sector, and thus the design of appropriate selling procedures (with regard to valuation of assets, flotation of shares, etc), but also, and most importantly, it appears to require the adjustment of significant features of the industrial organization and the regulatory framework. This volume focuses on the two related questions of why and how to proceed to privatization. Front Matter....Pages i-13 Front Matter....Pages 15-15 Privatisation, Liberalisation and the Orientation of Regulation....Pages 17-34 Some Criteria for Privatization in Italy....Pages 35-50 Privatization and The Ownership Structure of Public Utilities....Pages 51-69 Front Matter....Pages 71-71 The Privatisation of the British Public Sector: An Assessment of a Policy Innovation....Pages 73-97 An Attempt to End Monopoly: the Privatisation of the UK Electricity Industry....Pages 99-118 The European Union’s Policy on the Electricity and Natural Gas Industries....Pages 119-140 Front Matter....Pages 141-141 The Italian Electricity Sector Between Privatization and the Fear of Competition....Pages 143-175 Deregulation and Privatization of the Natural Gas Market in Italy....Pages 177-208 Privatization and Reorganization in the Italian Public Utilities: Railway Transport....Pages 209-231 Industrial Organization and Efficiency in Telecommunications Services....Pages 233-258 Privatizing the Italian Postal Services Governance Structure, Property Rights and Monopoly Rents....Pages 259-288 Back Matter....Pages 289-293