Copyright (c) 2008 All rights reserved. http://works.bepress.com/jean_philippe_bonardi Recent documents in Jean-Philippe Bonardi en-us Sat, 06 Sep 2008 04:18:20 PDT 3600 http://works.bepress.com/jean_philippe_bonardi/6 http://works.bepress.com/jean_philippe_bonardi/6 Thu, 04 Sep 2008 11:04:21 PDT To what extent should public utilities regulation be expected to converge across countries? When it occurs, will regulatory convergence lead to positive outcomes for utility sectors? This paper attempts to provide new answers to these questions. Building on the core proposition of the New Institutional Economics (NIE) that similar regulations generate different outcomes depending on their fit with the underlying domestic institutions, we develop a simple theoretical model and explore its implications by examining the diffusion of local loop unbundling (LLU) regulations in the telecommunications sector. We find support for the ideas (1) that once institutional factors are taken into account, one should expect some convergence in public utility regulation but with still a significant degree of local experimentation, and (2) this process will lead to very different results regarding the impact of regulation. Jean-Philippe Bonardi http://works.bepress.com/jean_philippe_bonardi/5 http://works.bepress.com/jean_philippe_bonardi/5 Thu, 04 Sep 2008 10:55:40 PDT It is well documented that firms develop nonmarket strategies in an effort to shape public policy changes to their advantage. But are there no limits to this? This paper argues that there is, in fact, an important limitation, internal to the firm, that stems from the necessity for firms to integrate market and nonmarket activities. Because the two types of activities are not always complements but sometimes substitutes, firms end up forgoing part of their nonmarket activities to avoid restricting the development of their market strategies. This argument is tested in the context of the European telecommunications industry. Results suggest that there is reasonable ground for optimism regarding the potentially negative influence that firms' nonmarket activities might play in a democracy. Jean-Philippe Bonardi