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Does Competition Reduce Costs? Assessing the Impact of Regulatory Restructuring on U.S. Electric Generation Efficiency

Author

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  • Nancy L. Rose
  • Kira Markiewicz
  • Catherine Wolfram
Abstract
Although the allocative efficiency benefits of competition are a tenet of microeconomic theory, the relation between competition and technical efficiency is less well understood. Neoclassical models of profit-maximization subsume static cost-minimizing behavior regardless of market competitiveness, but agency models of managerial behavior suggest possible scope for competition to influence cost-reducing effort choices. This paper explores the empirical effects of competition on technical efficiency in the context of electricity industry restructuring. Restructuring programs adopted by many U.S. states made utilities residual claimants to cost savings and increased their exposure to competitive markets. We estimate the impact of these changes on annual generating plant-level input demand for non-fuel operating expenses, the number of employees and fuel use. We find that municipally-owned plants, whose owners were for the most part unaffected by restructuring, experienced the smallest efficiency gains over the past decade. Investor-owned utility plants in states that restructured their wholesale electricity markets had the largest reductions in nonfuel operating expenses and employment, while investorowned plants in nonrestructuring states fell between these extremes. The analysis also highlights the substantive importance of treating the simultaneity of input and output decisions, which we do through an instrumental variables approach.

Suggested Citation

  • Nancy L. Rose & Kira Markiewicz & Catherine Wolfram, 2004. "Does Competition Reduce Costs? Assessing the Impact of Regulatory Restructuring on U.S. Electric Generation Efficiency," Working Papers 0418, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:mee:wpaper:0418
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    Cited by:

    1. John Kwoka, 2008. "Restructuring the U.S. Electric Power Sector: A Review of Recent Studies," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 32(3), pages 165-196, May.
    2. Machiel Mulder & Victoria Shestalova & Mark Lijesen, 2005. "Vertical separation of the energy-distribution industry; an assessment of several options for unbundling," CPB Document 84.rdf, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    3. Machiel Mulder & Victoria Shestalova & Mark Lijesen, 2005. "Vertical separation of the energy-distribution industry; an assessment of several options for unbundling," CPB Document 84, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    4. Supawat Rungsuriyawiboon & Spiro Stefanou, 2008. "The dynamics of efficiency and productivity growth in U.S. electric utilities," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 30(3), pages 177-190, December.
    5. Xavier Vives, 2008. "Innovation And Competitive Pressure," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(3), pages 419-469, December.
    6. Tooraj Jamasb & Michael Pollitt, 2005. "Deregulation and R&D in network industries: the case of the electricity industry," Working Papers EPRG 0502, Energy Policy Research Group, Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge.
    7. John Kwoka & Michael Pollitt, 2007. "Industry Restructuring, Mergers and Efficiency: Evidence from Electric Power," Working Papers EPRG 0708, Energy Policy Research Group, Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge.
    8. Steven J. Davis & Luis Rivera-Batiz, 2005. "The Climate for Business Development and Employment Growth in Puerto Rico," NBER Working Papers 11679, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Ian Lange & Allen Bellas, 2006. "Policy Innovation Impacts on Scrubber Electricity Usage," NCEE Working Paper Series 200601, National Center for Environmental Economics, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, revised Apr 2006.
    10. Goto, Mika & Makhija, Anil K., 2007. "The Impact of Competition and Corporate Structure on Productive Efficiency: The Case of the U.S. Electric Utility Industry, 1990-2004," Working Paper Series 2007-10, Ohio State University, Charles A. Dice Center for Research in Financial Economics.
    11. Chen, Wei-Ming, 2019. "The U.S. electricity market twenty years after restructuring: A review experience in the state of Delaware," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 24-32.
    12. Gaffney, F. & Deane, J.P. & Gallachóir, B.P.Ó, 2017. "A 100 year review of electricity policy in Ireland (1916–2015)," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 67-79.
    13. Machiel Mulder & Gijsbert Zwart, 2006. "Government involvement in liberalised gas markets; a welfare-economic analysis of Dutch gas-depletion policy," CPB Document 110.rdf, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    14. Hugh van der Mandele & Arjen C. van Witteloostuijn, 2013. "Free to Fail," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 15112.
    15. Amir Jahan Khan, 2014. "The Comparative Efficiency of Public and Private Power Plants in Pakistan’s Electricity Industry," Lahore Journal of Economics, Department of Economics, The Lahore School of Economics, vol. 19(2), pages 1-26, July-Dec.
    16. Fan Zhang, 2007. "Does Electricity Restructuring Work? Evidence From The U.S. Nuclear Energy Industry," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(3), pages 397-418, September.
    17. Machiel Mulder & Gijsbert Zwart, 2006. "Government involvement in liberalised gas markets; a welfare-economic analysis of Dutch gas-depletion policy," CPB Document 110, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    18. FitzGerald, John & Keeney, Mary J. & McCarthy, Niamh & O'Malley, Eoin & Scott, Susan, 2005. "Aspects of Irish Energy Policy," Research Series, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), number PRS57.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • L11 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Production, Pricing, and Market Structure; Size Distribution of Firms
    • L43 - Industrial Organization - - Antitrust Issues and Policies - - - Legal Monopolies and Regulation or Deregulation
    • L51 - Industrial Organization - - Regulation and Industrial Policy - - - Economics of Regulation
    • L94 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities - - - Electric Utilities
    • D24 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Production; Cost; Capital; Capital, Total Factor, and Multifactor Productivity; Capacity

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