Skip to main content

Incentive Regulation in Theory and Practice

  • Chapter
Incentive Regulation for Public Utilities

Part of the book series: Topics in Regulatory Economics and Policy ((TREP,volume 18))

Abstract

After decades of criticism by academics and practitioners, rate-of-return regulation is gradually giving way to “incentive regulation.” Since any regulation produces some incentives, the new label is somewhat confusing—moreso because of the diversity of approaches it encompasses, including price caps,2 sliding-scale regulation,3 and yardstick competition.4 The purpose of this paper is to demystify “incentive regulation” (IR) by laying out the key principles it incorporates, examining their implementation in regulatory practice, and evaluating the performance of various IR schemes.5

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Abbott, Thomas A., III and Michael A. Crew. 1994. “Dynamic Pricing under Static Regulation: The Case of UBP.” In Incentive Regulation for Public Utilities, edited by Michael A. Crew. Boston, MA: Kluwer Academic Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Arrow, Kenneth. 1962. “Economic Welfare and the Allocation of Resources for Inventions.” In The Rate and Direction of Inventive Activity, edited by Richard Nelson. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Averch, Harvey and Leland Johnson. 1962. “Behavior of the Firm under Regulatory Constraint.” American Economic Review 52: 1052–1069.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bawa, Vijay S. and David S. Sibley. 1980. “Dynamic Behavior of a Firm subject to Stochastic Regulatory Constraint.” International Economic Review 21: 627–642.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berg, Sanford and J. Jeong. 1991. “An Evaluation of Incentive Regulation for Electric Utilities.” Journal of Regulatory Economics 3: 45–55.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blackmon, B. Glenn, Jr. 1992. “The Incremental Surplus Subsidy and Rate-of-Return Regulation.” Journal of Regulatory Economics 4: 187–196.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Braeutigam, Ronald R and Panzar, John C. 1989. “Diversification Incentives under ”Price-Based“ and ”Cost-Based“ Regulation.” Rand Journal of Economics 20: 373–391.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Braeutigam, Ronald R. and John C. Panzar. 1993. “Effects of the Change from Rate-of-Regulation to Price-Cap Regulation.” American Economic Review 83: 191–198.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brennan, Timothy J. 1989. “Regulating by Capping Prices.” Journal of Regulatory Economics 1: 133–148.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown, Lorenzo, Michael Einhorn and Ingo Vogelsang. 1991. “Toward Improved and Practical Incentive Regulation.” Journal of Regulatory Economics 3: 323–338.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown, Stephen J. and David S. Sibley. 1986. The Theory of Public Utility Pricing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burness, H. Stuart, W. David Montgomery, and James P. Quirk. 1980. “Capital Contracting and the Regulated Firm.” American Economic Review 70: 342–354.

    Google Scholar 

  • Capron, William M., editor. 1971. Technological Change in Regulated Industries. Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cromwell, Jerry, Randall P. Ellis, Brooke Harrow, and Thomas P. McGuire. 1991. “A Modified TEFRA System for Medicare Discharges from Psychiatric Facilities.” Mimeo, Boston University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ellis, Randall P. and Thomas G. McGuire. 1993. “Supply-Side and Demand-Side Cost Sharing in Health Care.” Journal of Economic Perspectives 7: 135–152.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Federal Communications Commission. 1990. In the Matter of Policy and Rules Concerning Rates for Dominant Carriers, Second Report and Order. FCC Docket (October 4): 87–313.

    Google Scholar 

  • Federal Power Commission v. Hope Natural Gas Co. 1944. 320 U.S.: 591.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gasmi, F., M. Ivaldi and J.J. Laffont. 1994. “Rent Extraction and Incentives for Efficiency in Recent Regulatory Proposals.” Journal of Regulatory Economics 6: 151–176.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gilbert, Richard J. and David M. Newbery. 1988. “Regulation Games.” University of California, Berkeley, Working Paper 8879, (June 16).

    Google Scholar 

  • Goldberg, Victor P. 1976. “Regulation and Administered Contracts.” The Bell Journal of Economics 7: 426–448.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guterman, S. P. Eggers, G. Riley, T. Green and S. Terrell, 1988. “The First Three Years of Medicare Prospective Payment: An Overview.” Health Care Financing Review 9:67–77.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hagerman, James, 1990. “Regulation by price adjustment.” The RAND Journal of Eco-nomics 21: 72–82.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission. 1990. Petition of Public Service Company of Indiana, Inc., for the Approval of Permanent Rates...,Cause No. 37414-S2, (April 4).

    Google Scholar 

  • Joskow, Paul L. and Roger G. Noll. 1981. “Regulation in Theory and Practice: An Overview.” In Studies in Public Regulation, edited by Gary Fromm. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Joskow, Paul and Richard Schmalensee. 1986. “Incentive Regulation for Electric Utilities.” Yale Journal on Regulation 4: 1–50.

    Google Scholar 

  • Joskow, Paul. 1989. “Regulatory Failure, Regulatory Reform, and Structural Change in the Electrical Power Industry.” Brookings Papers on Economic Activity: Microeconomics: 125–199.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kahn, Alfred E. 1989. The Economics of Regulation. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kaserman, David L., John W. Mayo and Larry R. Blank. 1994. “Dominant Firm Pricing with Competitive Entry and Regulation: The Case of IntraLATA Toll.” Mimeo, University of Tennessee, (April).

    Google Scholar 

  • Laffont, Jean-Jacques and Jean Tirole. 1993. A Theory of Incentives in Procurement and Regulation. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Landon, John. 1990. Incentive Regulation in the Electric Utility Industry. White Plains, NY: National Economic Research Associates (July).

    Google Scholar 

  • Lanning, Joyce A., Michael A. Morrisey and Robert L. Ohsfeldt. 1991. “Endogenous Hospital Regulation and Its Effects on Hospital and Non-hospital Expenditures.” Journal of Regulatory Economics 3: 137–154.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lewis, Tracy R. and David E. M. Sappington. 1992. “Incentives for Conservation and Quality-Improvement by Public Utilities.” American Economic Review 82: 1321–1340.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lipman, Barton L. 1985. “Dynamic Behavior of a Firm Subject to Stochastic Regulatory Review: A Comment.” International Economic Review 26:511–516.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Littlechild, Steven C. 1983. Regulation of British Telecom’s Profitability. London: Department of Industry.

    Google Scholar 

  • Logan, John W., Robert T. Masson and Robert J. Reynolds. 1989. “Efficient Regulation with Little Information: Reality in the Limit?” International Economic Review 30: 851–861.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lyon, Thomas P. 1991. “Regulation with 20–20 Hindsight: Heads I Win, Tails You Lose?” The RAND Journal of Economics 22: 581–595.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lyon, Thomas P. 1993a. “Evaluating the Performance of Non-Bayesian Regulatory Mechanisms.” Indiana University Working Paper 93–010.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lyon, Thomas P. 1993b. “A Model of Sliding-Scale Regulation.” Indiana University mimeo.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lyon, Thomas P., and Haizhov Huang. 1993. “Innovation and Imitation in a Partially-Regulated Industry.” Mimeo, Indiana University (December).

    Google Scholar 

  • Lyon, Thomas P. and Michael A. Toman. 1991. “Designing Price Caps for Natural Gas Distribution Companies.” Journal of Regulatory Economics 3: 175–192.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mathios, A. D. and R. P. Rogers. 1989. “The Impact of Alternative Forms of State Regulation of AT&T on Direct-Dial, Long-Distance Telephone Rates.” RAND Journal of Economics 20: 437–453.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Munn v. Illinois. 1877.94 U.S. 113.

    Google Scholar 

  • National Regulatory Research Institute. 1991. Incentive Regulation for Local Gas Distribution Companies under Changing Industry Structure. The Ohio State University. Report # NRRI 91–19, (December).

    Google Scholar 

  • Neu, Werner. 1993. “Allocative Inefficiency Properties of Price-Cap Regulation.” Journal of Regulatory Economics 5: 159–182.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Palmer, Karen. 1991. “Diversification by Regulated Monopolies and Incentives for Cost-Reducing R&D.” American Economic Review 81: 266–270.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pint, Ellen M. 1992. “Price-Cap versus Rate-of-Return Regulation in a Stochastic-Cost Model.” The RAND Journal of Economics 23: 564–578.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reichelstein, S. 1992. “Constructing Incentive Schemes for Government Contracts: An Application of Agency Theory.” The Accounting Review 67 (October).

    Google Scholar 

  • Riordan, Michael H. 1992. “Regulation and Preemptive Technology Adoption.” Rand Journal of Economics 23: 334–349.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Russell, L.B. and Manning, C.L. 1989. “The Effect of Prospective Payment on Medicare Expenditures.” New England Journal of Medicine 320: 439–444.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sappington, David. 1980. “Strategic firm behavior under a dynamic regulatory adjustment process.” Bell Journal of Economics 11: 360–372.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sappington, David and David S. Sibley. 1988. “Regulating without Cost Information: The Incremental Surplus Subsidy Scheme.” International Economic Review 29: 297–306.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sappington, David and David S. Sibley. 1992. “Strategic Nonlinear Pricing under Price-Cap Regulation.” RAND Journal of Economics 23: 1–19.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schmalensee, Richard. 1989. “Good Regulatory Regimes.” The RAND Journal of Economics 20: 417–436.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schumpeter, Joseph. 1943. Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy. London: Unwin University Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sherman, Roger. 1989. The Regulation of Monopoly. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Shleifer, Andrei. 1985. “A Theory of Yardstick Competition.” The RAND Journal of Economics 16: 319–327.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sibley, David S. 1989. “Asymmetric Information, Incentives and Price-Cap Regulation.” The RAND Journal of Economics 20: 392–404.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shifman, Joel and Darby Arseneault. 1992. Report on Telecommunication Alternative Regulation Plans by State. August, ME: Maine Public Utilities Commission.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stefos, Theodore, Nicole LaVallee, and Frank Holden. 1992. “Fairness in Prospective Payment: A Clustering Approach.” Health Services Research 27: 239–261.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stigler, George J. 1971. “The Theory of Economic Regulation.” The Bell Journal of Economics and Management Science 2: 3–21.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sweeney, George. 1981. “Adoption of Cost-Saving Innovations by a Regulated Firm.” American Economic Review 71: 437–447.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tardif, Timothy J. and William E. Taylor. 1993. “Telephone Company Performance under Alternative Forms of Regulation in the U.S.” Mimeo. Cambridge, MA: National Economic Research Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • Teisberg, Elizabeth O. 1993. “Capital Investment Strategies Under Uncertain Regulation.” RAND Journal of Economics 24: 591–604.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thorpe, Kenneth E. and Charles E. Phelps. 1990. “Regulatory Intensity and Hospital Cost Growth.” Journal of Health Economics 9: 143–166.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vogelsang, Ingo. 1989. “Price Cap Regulation for Telecommunications Services: A Long-Run Approach,” In Deregulation and Diversification of Utilities, edited by Michael Crew. Boston, MA: Kluwer Academic Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vogelsang, Ingo and Jorg Finsinger. 1979. “A Regulatory Adjustment Process for Optimal Pricing by Multiproduct Monopoly Firms.” The Bell Journal of Economics 10: 157–171.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weisman, Dennis L. 1993. “Superior Regulatory Regimes in Theory and Practice.” Journal of Regulatory Economics 5: 355–366.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wellisz, Stanislaw H. 1963. “Regulation of Natural Gas Pipeline Companies: An Economic Analysis.” Journal of Political Economy 71: 30–43.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Winston, Clifford. 1993. “Economic Deregulation: Days of Reckoning for Microeconomists.” Journal of Economic Literature 31: 1263–1289.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 1994 Springer Science+Business Media New York

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Lyon, T.P. (1994). Incentive Regulation in Theory and Practice. In: Crew, M.A. (eds) Incentive Regulation for Public Utilities. Topics in Regulatory Economics and Policy, vol 18. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-2782-4_1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-2782-4_1

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4613-6202-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4615-2782-4

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

Publish with us

Policies and ethics