Abstract
One of the many challenges facing policy-makers is fostering competition in postal markets while, at the same time, preserving universal service. This is a difficult undertaking, for to declare the need for a universal service policy is to admit that the unsubsidized competitive marketplace will fail to deliver a politically acceptable level of service at a politically acceptable price. But, competition and subsidization are like oil and water; they can be mixed only with great care.
Louis W. Menk Professor of Economies and Transportation, Northwestern University; and Research Associate, Centre for Research in Network Economies and Communications, University of Auckland. An earlier version of this paper, entitled “A Methodology for Measuring the Costs of Universal Service Obligations,” was presented at the IDEI Conference on Competition and Universal Service in the Postal Sector, University of Toulouse, March 1999. I am grateful to Mark Ivaldi and Conference participants for helpful comments and suggestions.
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Panzar, J.C. (2001). Funding Universal Service Obligations. In: Crew, M.A., Kleindorfer, P.R. (eds) Future Directions in Postal Reform. Topics in Regulatory Economics and Policy Series, vol 38. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-1671-2_6
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