Privatization Of Public Utilities Research Articles

The Concept of Equality under the Indigenous and Western Legal Systems: Issues and Challenges on Sustainable Development of Africa

Communities in Africa in the pre-colonial days lived with one another in a just and equitable manner, in love, on the principles of ubuntu. The way of life was further sustained by the communities’ perception and equation of the land with humanity, where everyone had equal access to the land as factor of production. The communal system which assured of equal treatment of everyone suffered a set-back, through centuries of slave trading and the colonization and the eventual imposition of western laws on indigenous peoples of Africa, these transformed the indigenous communities from their classlessness into stratified un-equal societies of those who have and those who do not have. Corruption evolves as a result of private property ownership and this further compounds in-equality, such that communal properties are unfairly taken over by few individuals, under non-transparent privatisation of public utilities. Access to factors of production and to justice in the post-colonial Africa is a myth on account of technicality and cost. The prospect of sustaining the pre-colonial equitable access to factors of production and to justice through oral tradition suffers a setback on account of the loss of cultural archives like the African traditional religion and the indigenous languages.

Selling the jewels: patient capital, state-business relations, and the privatization of strategic utilities in Italy and Spain

The privatization of public utilities marked a turning point in European capitalism, reshaping the relationship between the public and private spheres of the economy. However, the extent of state disinvestment varies greatly from country to country. While in some countries direct state ownership has disappeared, in others the state still acts as a reference shareholder in strategic companies. Despite their institutional similarities, Italy and Spain provide a puzzling example of this divergence. While Spain completed the privatization of all public utilities, the Italian state retains a controlling stake in many of them. Through historical case studies based on official documents, legal texts, archival research of newspaper articles, secondary sources and memoirs, this paper explains this divergence. Contributing to recent debates on patient capital and state-business interactions, it is argued that Spain completed the privatization process because the state was able to orchestrate the creation of shareholder alliances among private investors. Crucially, these investors were willing to ensure that management prioritizes long-term investment plans over the distribution of short-term financial profits. In the absence of domestic private providers of patient capital, the Italian state had to keep the role of anchor investor for itself after unsuccessfully experimenting with various privatization strategies.

Focus: Privatisation of electricity is against the public interest

INTERNATIONAL union rights Page 13 Volume 22 Issue 2 2015 Privatisation of electricity is against the public interest T he present Government of Pakistan has announced plans to privatise 37 public enterprises at the behest of the World Bank, including Electricity, Railways, Port Trusts, Civil Aviation, Oil and Gas, PIA, National Bank and other public enterprises. The working class of Pakistan has been making a concerted struggle by holding protest rallies and marches to impress upon the present Government the need for Social Dialogue with the trade unions, since the workers are essential stakeholders, instead of going ahead with a privatisation of public utilities while unilaterally ignoring the public interest. The Electricity system in Pakistan is run by State owned companies - General, Transmission and Distribution – which provide electricity to more than 22 million industrial, agricultural, commercial, and domestic consumers all over the country. The trade union representatives of electricity workers, namely the All Pakistan Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) Hydro Electric Workers’ Union, which has more than 140,000 members across Generation, Transmission, and Distribution, as well as Water Dams, have been urging the Government to accept that the proposed privatisation would be against the public interest since the privatisation of electricity in the Rawalpindi and Multan metropolitan areas and major cities failed miserably because those companies were not ready to provide electricity to consumer areas - even those in urban areas – that were not profitable to them. Therefore, the Federal Government had to take over those companies in the public interest, following the persistent demand of the general public. Reluctantly, the WAPDA public utility was able to supply electricity to all of the cities and also to more than half a million villages in the rural areas. The privatisation of Karachi Electricity Supply Company (KESC) has also failed miserably. The KESC, despite receiving electricity from the national grid of WAPDA, at a rate of 650 mw daily, at very cheap rates, has neither raised a generation of its own thermal power houses nor has it built any new power house to overcome load shedding – as was required under its agreement with the Government. The company has also been receiving a subsidy of millions of rupees from the Government every year. Despite receiving electricity at reduced rates from the national grid – and a subsidy from the Government – the company has not reduced the rate of electricity. The trade union representatives have been urging the Government that administrative reforms should be introduced in the electricity sector in order to overcome its mismanagement. But the Government has handed control of electricity from WAPDA to 15 companies, whose administration has been handed out to private members of the Board of Directors appointed on a political basis. There has not been any investment in these companies . These political appointees are responsible for the mismanagement. The trade unions have demanded that the Government should review this structure because it has not only raised mismanagement but has also raised administrative costs as the electricity system has been divided into 15 companies with huge numbers of officials whereas companies all over the world are being amalgamated and merged to reduce administrative costs. The experience of private independent power thermal generation has also proven to be a failure, because thermal power station are being run by furnace oil. The private thermal stations have raised the cost of electricity compared to thermal power stations in the public sector. The revenue of State owned distribution companies is being eaten away by these private thermal power houses and rental power houses. Had the Government invested in building new power stations in the public sector the high cost of electricity and load shedding would have been averted. The workers have also highlighted that cheaper electricity is a basic need for the development of national industries, agriculture and commerce. Therefore, the Government, instead of following the conditionalities of the World Bank and IMF, should place the matter before the national Parliament and the Senate of Pakistan to discuss all of the pros and cons in the public interest. All Pakistan WAPDA Hydro Electric Workers’ Union has been observing protest days and holding rallies all over the country. More than twenty thousand workers gathered...

Natural Monopoly, Public Trust and Vested Interests: Case of Power Sector in Pakistan

The advent of neo-liberalism in the last quarter of 20th century was a landmark development in the modern history of economic activity. One of the major features of the neo-liberalist counter-revolution, as opposed to the Keynesian interventionist revolution, was privatization of public utilities which were globally operating as natural monopolies in the state sector. The biggest of the latter universally existed in the power sector. Notwithstanding the global wave of power sector reforms and persistent deficit of financial resources and public trust in the corresponding sector of Pakistan, reforms of GENCOs and privatization of DISCOs in the country remain an unfulfilled promise and a wishful thinking respectively. This paper looks into the factors justifying the privatization of state monopolies in the power sector world over and attempts to make a similar case for Pakistan, advocating a consistent, gradual and sustainable process of reforms to protect societal welfare, save on public resources and help boost up industrial production. It is argued that vested interests are having formidable strongholds in the power sector of Pakistan, while economic theory and universal empirical evidence no longer favor the monopoly in electricity generation and distribution. The findings of study lead to the conclusion that world of 21st century is being led by enterprising investors with bags full of money and a preparedness to welcome risk wherever the niche exists in the market. It is recommended that tangibly concrete efforts should be made to build up the confidence of domestic and foreign investors in the profitability potential of large scale industry of Pakistan; specifically, power sector reforms ought to be the frontline item of public policy agenda, given the current state of affairs regarding electricity supply to domestic and commercial users.

APPRAISAL OF THE PHILOSOPHICAL, POLITICAL AND IDEOLOGICAL CONCEPT OF PRIVATIZATION: A REFLECTION ON THE NIGERIA EXPERIENCE

The concept of privatization is not a new phenomenon but the practice continues toelicit novel ideas that attract comments from academics and other practitioners around theglobe. It is an idea that have transcended over the decades to ensure that public enterprises arebetter managed by private individuals and organizations in order to achieve efficiency in theirproductivity. Our primary goal in this article to examine the philosophical, political andideological basis of the concept of privatization and how this idea has found its relevance inNigerian Political landscape via a reflecting on the Nigerian experience. This paper will startby examining the universal ideas behind concept of privatization, the meaning and origin ofprivatization, its influence on Nigeria and references will be drawn from other countriesaround the world that have made some giant strides in the field of privatisation of their Stateowned enterprises. There will be an overview of the methods of privatization, the nature andpattern of privatization in Nigeria and why the government opted for privatization of publicutilities. This paper will end with the authors’ conclusion on how Nigeria can benefit fromprivatisation policy.

The Curse of Wealth: Political Ecologies of Latin American Neoliberalism

The article reviews recent scholarship on the changing relationships between nature, society, capital, and the state in neoliberal Latin America. It employs political ecology as a macro-analytic framework to analyze scholarly literature published since 2007 on Latin American socio-ecological processes. The first section examines land and resource conflicts associated with accumulation by dispossession, or the penetration of capital into hitherto un-commodified realms of nature and biological life. Conflicts include popular struggles for land reform, and against new extraction-based oil and mining interests, and the privatization of public utilities. The second section reviews the resurgence and socio-ecological impacts of neoliberal mega-development, including large-scale hydroelectric, infrastructure, and agro-industrial projects. The third section reviews studies related to the extension of market forces and global governance regimes into the environmental and public commons, primarily through the creation of ecological protected areas and biodiversity conservation initiatives. In response to the complex reconfigurations of capitalism, nature, and governance in neoliberal Latin America, the article also highlights the emergence of organized resistance, and experimentation in post-neoliberal and post-development alternatives.

Constitutional Barriers and the Privatization of Public Utilities in Rich Democracies

This paper examines the impact of constitutional barriers on the privatization of public utilities in 21 OECD-countries between 1980 and 2008. We present new and improved indicators for privatization and constitutional barriers. Three empirical findings stand out: first, national privatization trajectories differ across both countries and sectors. Second, there is a significant cross-national variation in terms of constitutional provisions related to public utilities which, thirdly, constitute important impediments to privatization.

A Contagious Concept: Explaining the Spread of Privatization in the Telecommunications Sector

Qualitative studies suggest that the spread of privatization of public utilities is due to a change of the economic paradigm and institutional isomorphism pressures. However, current quantitative studies mostly account for domestic factors. These factors can explain differences in national privatization trajectories but cannot explain the large trend. Based on a quantitative analysis of privatizations in the telecommunications sector in 21 OECD countries, the article argues that emulation pressures can explain the trend toward privatization. The analysis suggests that privatization gained legitimacy as more and more governments emulated privatization policies they observed in countries they perceived as similar. However, the article finds no evidence of cross-sectoral diffusion. Thus, according to the analysis, telecommunications privatization diffused within the same sector between countries, but not within the same country between different sectors.

The 'Necessity Defense' and the Emerging Arbitral Conflict in its Application to the U.S.-Argentina Bilateral Investment Treaty

AT the turn of the twenty-first century, while the Internet boom was generating incredible wealth in developed countries, Argentina experienced one of the worst economic and fiscal crises in its history. Between 2001 and 2002, output fell 20 percent over three years, inflation reignited, the government defaulted on its debt, the banking system was largely paralyzed, and the Argentine peso reached lows of 3.90 pesos per U.S. dollar. In the context of other regional economic troubles, such as the Asian crisis of 1997-1998, the Brazilian devaluation in early 1999 and the steady appreciation of the dollar from 1998 to 2001, the overvaluation of the Argentine peso led to a structural crisis. Although there are recurring themes in the analyses of the events leading up to the crisis, blame cannot be assigned to any one individual or entity. The government of Argentina is ultimately responsible for its own fiscal policies, including, among others, the privatization of public utilities. In retrospect, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) concluded that “the crisis . . . . was the result of economic forces that were difficult to reverse in the context of Argentina's existing vulnerabilities,” including unmanageable public debt, the fixed currency board, and structural weaknesses that had built up during the 1990s. By 2001, the IMF concluded almost no strategy would have succeeded absent sovereign debt restructuring of Argentina's public debt burden. The IMF is not blameless either, having made mistakes both before and during the crisis. Although it expressed reservations at various times, the IMF backed Argentina throughout the 1990s, and in 1998, the IMF went so far as to say that Argentina's economic policy was ‘the best in the world,’ despite its deep depression. During the crisis, the IMF delayed its support, heightening foreign investors' perception of risk. The international financial community also shares some of the blame. The favorable financial expectations promoted by institutions like the IMF created a tremendous flow of foreign capital into Argentina; its subsequent flight was one of the biggest contributing factors to the crisis. The United States was particularly indifferent to the crisis. The administration of President George W. Bush imposed high tariffs on Argentine exports and refused to adjust the tariffs during the crisis yet at the same time provided tremendous support to the government of Turkey, which was in a similar crisis but was strategically more important for the United States' own economic and political interests. The crisis broke with the flight of private investment, which fell by more than $3.6 billion in the last two days of November 2001. On January 3, 2002, President Eduardo Duhalde, the fifth president in three weeks, confirmed a moratorium on Argentina's debts and announced he would negotiate with private creditors. Three days later, the government enacted the Public Emergency and Exchange Regime Reform Act (Reform Act), declaring a state of public emergency and delegating social, economic, administrative, and financial and exchange powers to the Executive. The Reform Act provided for the renegotiation of government contracts and established a commission to monitor the actions taken by the executive in accordance with the Act. The Reform Act resulted in a flood of requests for arbitration at the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) at the World Bank in Washington, D.C. These requests were filed by foreign corporations seeking to recover for breach of contract under their respective country's bilateral investment treaty with Argentina. As of December 8, 2006, there were thirty-four cases currently pending against Argentina in ICSID. Eight have been resolved. Argentina invoked the controversial defense of necessity in two cases brought by United States corporations; one arbitral panel accepted the defense, and one did not. This article analyzes the cases to determine which panel was correct within the context of established customary law and state practice regarding the necessity defense or necessity doctrine.

Utility stress as a social determinant of health: exploring the links in a remote Aboriginal community

The implications of the high cost of water on the poverty and subsequent health of Aboriginal residents in a remote community in Australia. During 2003, a focus group session was held with adults at Umoona Aboriginal community in South Australia. Participants were asked to comment on key issues of concern in the provision of the domestic water supply. The Umoona community members in Coober Pedy identified the high cost of water and electricity as key hardship factors. Plans under the National Water Initiative to move to full cost recovery for water and the privatisation of public utilities may result in increased hardship for low-income groups such as Aboriginal people. Utility stress (difficulties paying water, electricity, gas or telephone accounts by the due date) increases poverty and relative deprivation, both key factors in the social determinants of health. Increased community service obligations (CSO) and rebates need to be made available to all low-income groups in order to reduce the negative impact of poverty.

Change of Governance in Historic Perspective: The German Experience

The shift from the liberal, laissez-faire attitude to the welfare state at the end of the 19th century was accompanied in Germany with an idealized notion of the state that has created a lasting and unfortunate legacy: the persistent and deeply ingrained present-day German belief in a perceived unlimited competence of the state, and a deeply ingrained skepticism against the market mechanism by the general public that has turned out to be the greatest single obstacle obstructing urgent reforms in 21st century Germany. Nevertheless, the financial overburdening of the modern welfare state has become increasingly visible, and it is confronted with the problem of a growing discrepancy between public expectations and its ability to act. Indicators of change are a large-scale privatization of public utilities and the beginning of a privatization of welfare arrangements. The political economy and corporate governance in Germany are characterized by a corporatist approach. This regime is generally classified as the standard example of an insider-controlled and stakeholder-oriented governance system as opposed to a modern capital-marked-based and outsider-controlled system. Various threads of this insider system have started to unravel, and certain elements typically associated with outsider systems seem to be increasing. The structural changes are accompanied by regulatory reforms that are inspired by a regulatory approach typical for a marketoriented governance model. The emphasis has been on the regulation of information: enhanced disclosure duties, stricter liability for insufficient or misleading information, and more efficient means of private enforcement of mandatory disclosure rules by damages suits.

Representation and Rights: Recent Scholarship on Social Movements in Latin America

Struggles for Social Rights in Latin America. Edited by Susan Eva Eckstein and Timothy P. Wickham-Crowley. (New York: Routledge, 2003. Pp. 346. $24.95 paper.) Indians, Oil, and Politics: A Recent History of Ecuador. By Allen Gerlach. (Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 2003. Pp. 286. $65.00 cloth, $23.95 paper.) The Politics of Ethnicity: Indigenous Peoples in Latin American States. Edited by David Maybury-Lewis. (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University; David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, 2002. Pp. 386. $24.95 paper.) From Peasant Struggles to Indian Resistance: The Ecuadorian Andes in the Late Twentieth Century. By Amalia Pallares. (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2002. Pp. 272. $44.95 cloth.) Indigenous Movements, Self-Representation, and The State In Latin America. Edited by Kay B. Warren and Jean E. Jackson. (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2002. Pp. 294. $50.00 cloth, $22.95 paper.) More than a decade ago in an edited volume on popular movements and political change in Mexico, Joe Foweraker argued that the social movement literature was dogged by definitional squabbles and overlooked the links between and among movements and state structure (Foweraker 1990, 3). While this was true of a previous generation of social movement scholarship, it cannot be said of the five works under review. These authors are centrally concerned with describing the interaction between and among movements and the state in the current context of neoliberalism and democracy in Latin America, leaving aside the definitional questions (e.g., old or new, class or identity-based) that preoccupied social movement scholars in the past. While dozens of countries across the continent formally made the transition to democracy and adopted neoliberal policy programs in the 1980s and 1990s, the quality of these democracies and the impact of the "reforms" differed [End Page 237] significantly from country to country and region to region. By examining social movements at a variety of levels (transnational, national, regional, and local), these authors challenge those who view "neoliberalism," "globalization," and "democracy" as undifferentiated and uniform phenomena. The works under review flesh out the different ways that "globalization" is shaping social movement activity. Examining these five books as a whole, two broad themes emerge: group choices about how to best represent themselves, and people's understanding of their rights. All five of the works examine indigenous social movements and ethnic-based rights. Susan Eckstein and Timothy Wickham-Crowley's volume provides the broadest treatment of social movements and social rights, including chapters on subsistence, labor, gender, and ethnic and race-based rights. The other four works deal squarely with indigenous social movements. Both Amalia Pallares and Allen Gerlach focus exclusively on Ecuador. In David Maybury-Lewis's edited volume, authors examine indigenous movements throughout the continent, covering nine country cases in all. Kay Warren and Jean Jackson's volume includes chapters on Guatemala, Colombia, and Brazil. Certainly, Indian movements are not the only social movements of import in the continent, but they have become an important catalyst for social movement activity, often unifying a range of organizations around common goals. The national Indian movement in Ecuador, represented by the Confederation of Indian Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE), is one of the best examples of this phenomenon. CONAIE was at the helm of nation-wide mobilizations in 1990, 1992, 1997, and 2000 that pressured the government to take action on a range of demands, including opposition to the privatization of public utilities, the increase in gasoline prices, and structural adjustment policies (e.g., dollarization of the economy in 2000). CONAIE's demands have struck a powerful chord among Indian and non-Indian progressive organizations in Ecuador. Similarly, in Mexico, the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) has been at the forefront of that country's anti-globalization protests, providing a space where activists from different social movements (e.g., peasants, debtors, students, human rights activists, etc.) have come together in opposition to the North American...

Electricity market reform in Argentina: assessing the impact for the poor in Buenos Aires

Following an economic crisis in the late 1980s, Argentina became one of the first developing countries to fully implement policies of the ‘Washington Consensus’, including the liberalisation and privatisation of public utilities. However, the reform and economic growth that followed in the 1990s was eventually undermined by long-term recession and an economic collapse in late 2001, marked by national debt default and currency devaluation in early 2002. In the context of urban poverty and poverty reduction, this paper examines electricity market reform in Argentina, analysing the strengths, weaknesses and distributional impacts. The article raises some of the concerns local actors have of reform, including disproportionate costs to low-income consumers, and the legitimacy of the process itself as a possible barrier to the delivery of more equitable social benefits.

The Australian Productivity Miracle: A Sceptical View

ince the beginning of systematic microeconomic reform in the early 1980s, there has been a steady flow of official and unofficial predictions that the improvement in productivity made by possible by reform would yield improved living standards for all, or at least most, Australians. The first such predictions were made by Kasper et al. (1980) who estimated that the adoption of a program of microeconomic reform broadly similar to that subsequently implemented would result in annual growth in income per person of 3.8 per cent for the period 1975‐2000, while continuation of past policies would yield annual growth of 1.7 per cent. The implied cumulative net impact of reform was an increase in income of more than 70 per cent. Subsequent estimates of the benefits of reform, mostly made by government agencies, including the Bureau of Industry Economics (1990), the Economic Planning Advisory Council (1996), Filmer and Dao (1994) and the Industries Assistance Commission (1989), were more modest, but still substantial. The most widely quoted was the estimate made by the Industry Commission (1995) that the implementation of ‘Hilmer and related reforms’ would yield medium-term benefits equivalent to a permanent increase in GDP of 5.5 per cent. This estimate covered a broad range of reforms, including competitive tendering and contracting, regulatory reform in a number of industries and restructuring of government business enterprises. Although the time-scale for the realisation of benefits was not entirely consistent, the majority of the benefits were projected to be realised over a period of five years. The estimates excluded a number of major reforms that took place during the 1990s including reductions in tariffs, labour market reform and privatisation of public utilities. The estimates listed above covered overlapping sets of reform initiatives and time periods. However, they all implied that the benefits of microeconomic reform would be equivalent to an increase of at least one percentage point in the growth rate of GDP, and most were presented as partial or conservative. It therefore seems reasonable to summarise the conclusions of these studies by saying that the program of microeconomic reform commencing in the early 1980s was expected to raise the medium-term growth rate of GDP by between one and two percentage points.

Non‐Expected Utility, Saving and Portfolios

Despite increased stockholding opportunities, standard expected-utility models overpredict household participation and stock holdings. It has been suggested that departures from expected utility could resolve both puzzles. We investigate three measurable departures: (i) Kreps-Porteus preferences, (ii) Yaari's Dual Theory, and (iii) Quiggin's Rank-dependent Utility. Improvements tend to occur in predicted portfolio composition rather than participation. They are limited under (i), questionable under (ii), and more sizeable under (iii). Contrary to priors in the literature, improvements under (iii) do not result from solutions at kinks of indifference curves. We conclude that stockholding puzzles are unlikely to be resolved through preferences alone. Financial developments over the past decade have significantly enhanced the opportunities of households to invest in risky financial assets. Financial liberalisation led to considerable innovation, both in financial products and in the bundling of financial services. Privatisation of public utilities generated new stockholding opportunities, while the associated advertising campaign provided households with considerable information regarding the workings of the stock market. The proliferation of mutual funds allowed even small investors to hold highly diversified portfolios, and gave them access to the financial expertise of professional fund managers. Increased international integration and policy developments such as EMU improved prospects for risky asset holding across international borders. Pension reforms are encouraging households to undertake portfolio investments in order to provide for their old age. Progress in telecommunications and information channels, notably internet trading of securities and mutual funds, facilitate transactions. These important 'supply-side' developments have increased the number of stockholders, but have not been sufficient to induce the majority of house

Public Service Law: Privatization's Unexpected Offspring

TONY PROSSER [*] I INTRODUCTION The United Kingdom was the pioneer, if not of privatization, of a large scale privatization program extending to the public utilities: And it remains in the forefront of attempts to introduce forms of the new public management using private sector techniques in public administration. [1] One might think that this means that the role of public law, and of distinctive notions of public service embodied in law, have disappeared in those areas where privatization has taken place. Indeed, this perceived decline in public service law is the characteristic criticism of the British experience by commentators in Continental Europe. The Conservative governments of the United Kingdom certainly intended to replace hierarchical administrative controls with a marketplace in which resort to the courts on public law matters would be unnecessary. [2] In this article, however, I hope to suggest a paradox. The United Kingdom has experienced a new growth of public service law in relation to the privatized utilities. This has resulted in a convergence of the tradition of the United Kingdom and that of nations such as France and Italy, where public service has played a central role in public law, due in part to a unique rhetoric of public service in the Continental tradition. Indeed, it could be argued that the regulatory reform that accompanied privatization has made possible the development of a distinct discipline of public service law in the United Kingdom. [3] In this article, I define public service law as law designed to make basic public services available to all citizens without discrimination. This may require modification of the operation of markets and recognition of the need to compensate for substantive inequalities by providing services to the disadvantaged. Thus, public service law has both a descriptive and a normative dimension. It is descri ptive in that it is concerned with goods and services provided by institutions between the market and the state, which may include public enterprises at arm's length from government. It is normative in the sense that it is based on egalitarian rights derived from citizenship rather than an ability to bid in the marketplace. [4] My discussion of the development of a discipline of public service law in the United Kingdom will be limited to the privatization of public utilities. II THE ABSENCE OF A TRADITION OF PUBLIC SERVICE IN THE UNITED KINGDOM In marked contrast with their Continental neighbors, the British have traditionally been reluctant to enshrine requirements of public service in their system of law. During the nineteenth century, however, a relatively little-known body of common law developed to ensure access to monopoly services and to avoid discrimination in the way in which such access was provided. [5] The best-known of these cases concerned access to a dock monopoly, [6] but other examples included rights of access to ferries, bridges, and other early public utilities. [7] These cases may represent an early attempt to develop competition law in the interest of economic efficiency by minimizing market distortions created by monopoly power. Implications of this trend in the case law reached beyond competition law, however. And as Paul Craig has documented, the cases suggest the recognition of some form of public property rights triggered by the possibility of restrictions on public access to essential, but privately owned, services. [8] These cases could have supported the establishment of principles concerned with rights of equal access to public services, like those that developed in France that are described below. Indeed, in the United States, cases such as Allnutt v. Inglis were influential in forming a basis for the constitutional acceptance of utility regulation. [9] In the United Kingdom, however, they were largely forgotten, especially after the nationalization of the public utilities, culminating in the statutes of the Labour Government in the late 1940s. …

A return to the past? Brazil's privatization of public utilities: The case of the electric power sector

A return to the past? Brazil's privatization of public utilities: The case of the electric power sector

DOWNSIZING, RESTRUCTURING, PURCHASING AND PROVIDING: SOCIAL WORK AND SOCIAL SERVICES IN A VALUE‐FOR‐MONEY CLIMATE

The United Kingdom is experiencing its 11th consecutive year of Conservative government; first under Mrs, now Lady Thatcher and latterly under the leadership of John Major. This long period of government under one political party with, until recently, a weakened Labour and Liberal Democrat opposition, has brought in a major shift from welfare state policies, in place since post‐war years, to the pursuit of a vigorous policy of privatisation of public utilities (for example, gas, electricity, water) and a dimunition of res publica ‐the state, or the public good on the one hand ‐ and a strengthening of state powers in relation to criminal justice, and to some extent, defence on the other: what is sometimes called the ‘nightwatchman’ state.

Systems Simulation to Support Integrated Energy Analysis and Liberalised Planning

This paper describes the application of system dynamics to two very different energy policy contexts, both of which constitute key issues of the 1990s. On the one hand there is the global concern about sustainability and the financing of new energy capacity which has motivated integrated energy planning as a means to accommodate conservation and other demand‐side measures. On the other hand, there is the rapid restructuring and privatisation of public utilities, world‐wide, into competitive markets. These trends not only appear to pose conflicting policy objectives, e.g. planning versus liberalised market‐forces, they also pose a modelling challenge. This paper investigates how far systems modelling and simulation can provide the broad policy oriented framework required for these new purposes. Applications to the UK and Colombia are presented to explore some of the new issues which need to be integrated on this modelling platform.

Systems simulation to support integrated energy analysis and liberalised planning

This paper describes the application of system dynamics to two very different energy policy contexts, both of which constitute key issues of the 1990s. On the one hand there is the global concern about sustainability and the financing of new energy capacity which has motivated integrated energy planning as a means to accommodate conservation and other demand-side measures. On the other hand, there is the rapid restructuring and privatisation of public utilities, world-wide, into competitive markets. These trends not only appear to pose conflicting policy objectives, e.g. planning versus liberalised market-forces, they also pose a modelling challenge. This paper investigates how far systems modelling and simulation can provide the broad policy oriented framework required for these new purposes. Applications to the UK and Colombia are presented to explore some of the new issues which need to be integrated on this modelling platform.