Social welfare loss due to second-best pricing: an application to the portuguese telecommunications
Autor(a) principal: | |
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Data de Publicação: | 2001 |
Tipo de documento: | Artigo |
Idioma: | eng |
Título da fonte: | Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) |
Texto Completo: | https://hdl.handle.net/1822/2001 |
Resumo: | The Telecommunications industry is usually characterised by low marginal costs and significant fixed costs which are the conditions for the inefficiency of marginal cost pricing. In such cases theory postulates that optimal pricing is obtained by maximising welfare subject to a restriction of viability of the firm: the second-best pricing scheme. The possible Welfare Losses due to second-best pricing varies according to the values of marginal costs, prices and demand elasticities. In this paper we intend to analyse to what extent the second-best pricing has been achieved in the Portuguese Telecommunications firm CTT, over the period 1950-1984 as well as the magnitude of the price-cost margins and Welfare Losses created. We obtained empirical evidence of the presence of economies of scale, a Welfare Loss estimate of 1% of the Telecommunications receipts and a result that price was 40% greater than marginal cost. We concluded that price regulation and public ownership of the firm did not seriously affect social welfare over the sample period (it should be noted that it is the non-digital and fixed-wire infrastructure period). Therefore, it is important to study the impact of new digital and non-wire technologies and new services provided in the old regulatory scenery. |
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Social welfare loss due to second-best pricing: an application to the portuguese telecommunicationsTelecommunicationsNatural monopolyMonopoly welfare lossSecond-best pricingRegulationSocial SciencesThe Telecommunications industry is usually characterised by low marginal costs and significant fixed costs which are the conditions for the inefficiency of marginal cost pricing. In such cases theory postulates that optimal pricing is obtained by maximising welfare subject to a restriction of viability of the firm: the second-best pricing scheme. The possible Welfare Losses due to second-best pricing varies according to the values of marginal costs, prices and demand elasticities. In this paper we intend to analyse to what extent the second-best pricing has been achieved in the Portuguese Telecommunications firm CTT, over the period 1950-1984 as well as the magnitude of the price-cost margins and Welfare Losses created. We obtained empirical evidence of the presence of economies of scale, a Welfare Loss estimate of 1% of the Telecommunications receipts and a result that price was 40% greater than marginal cost. We concluded that price regulation and public ownership of the firm did not seriously affect social welfare over the sample period (it should be noted that it is the non-digital and fixed-wire infrastructure period). Therefore, it is important to study the impact of new digital and non-wire technologies and new services provided in the old regulatory scenery.Taylor and FrancisUniversidade do MinhoMartins, Maria Lurdes Castro2001-102001-10-01T00:00:00Zinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/articleapplication/pdfhttps://hdl.handle.net/1822/2001eng"Applied economics". ISSN 0003-6846. 33:13 (2001) 1683-1687.1466-428310.1080/00036840010014463info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessreponame:Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)instname:Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informaçãoinstacron:RCAAP2023-07-21T12:31:44Zoai:repositorium.sdum.uminho.pt:1822/2001Portal AgregadorONGhttps://www.rcaap.pt/oai/openaireopendoar:71602024-03-19T19:27:01.394377Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) - Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informaçãofalse |
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv |
Social welfare loss due to second-best pricing: an application to the portuguese telecommunications |
title |
Social welfare loss due to second-best pricing: an application to the portuguese telecommunications |
spellingShingle |
Social welfare loss due to second-best pricing: an application to the portuguese telecommunications Martins, Maria Lurdes Castro Telecommunications Natural monopoly Monopoly welfare loss Second-best pricing Regulation Social Sciences |
title_short |
Social welfare loss due to second-best pricing: an application to the portuguese telecommunications |
title_full |
Social welfare loss due to second-best pricing: an application to the portuguese telecommunications |
title_fullStr |
Social welfare loss due to second-best pricing: an application to the portuguese telecommunications |
title_full_unstemmed |
Social welfare loss due to second-best pricing: an application to the portuguese telecommunications |
title_sort |
Social welfare loss due to second-best pricing: an application to the portuguese telecommunications |
author |
Martins, Maria Lurdes Castro |
author_facet |
Martins, Maria Lurdes Castro |
author_role |
author |
dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv |
Universidade do Minho |
dc.contributor.author.fl_str_mv |
Martins, Maria Lurdes Castro |
dc.subject.por.fl_str_mv |
Telecommunications Natural monopoly Monopoly welfare loss Second-best pricing Regulation Social Sciences |
topic |
Telecommunications Natural monopoly Monopoly welfare loss Second-best pricing Regulation Social Sciences |
description |
The Telecommunications industry is usually characterised by low marginal costs and significant fixed costs which are the conditions for the inefficiency of marginal cost pricing. In such cases theory postulates that optimal pricing is obtained by maximising welfare subject to a restriction of viability of the firm: the second-best pricing scheme. The possible Welfare Losses due to second-best pricing varies according to the values of marginal costs, prices and demand elasticities. In this paper we intend to analyse to what extent the second-best pricing has been achieved in the Portuguese Telecommunications firm CTT, over the period 1950-1984 as well as the magnitude of the price-cost margins and Welfare Losses created. We obtained empirical evidence of the presence of economies of scale, a Welfare Loss estimate of 1% of the Telecommunications receipts and a result that price was 40% greater than marginal cost. We concluded that price regulation and public ownership of the firm did not seriously affect social welfare over the sample period (it should be noted that it is the non-digital and fixed-wire infrastructure period). Therefore, it is important to study the impact of new digital and non-wire technologies and new services provided in the old regulatory scenery. |
publishDate |
2001 |
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv |
2001-10 2001-10-01T00:00:00Z |
dc.type.status.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion |
dc.type.driver.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/article |
format |
article |
status_str |
publishedVersion |
dc.identifier.uri.fl_str_mv |
https://hdl.handle.net/1822/2001 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/1822/2001 |
dc.language.iso.fl_str_mv |
eng |
language |
eng |
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv |
"Applied economics". ISSN 0003-6846. 33:13 (2001) 1683-1687. 1466-4283 10.1080/00036840010014463 |
dc.rights.driver.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
eu_rights_str_mv |
openAccess |
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv |
application/pdf |
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv |
Taylor and Francis |
publisher.none.fl_str_mv |
Taylor and Francis |
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv |
reponame:Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) instname:Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informação instacron:RCAAP |
instname_str |
Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informação |
instacron_str |
RCAAP |
institution |
RCAAP |
reponame_str |
Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) |
collection |
Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) |
repository.name.fl_str_mv |
Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) - Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informação |
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