Network industries are often characterized by significant specific investment in infrastructure, localized competition, network externalities and a need to restructure.  Examples of industries with these properties are: telecommunications, energy, water, transportation, and financial services industries.  Liberalizing network industries leads to new challenges for firms and regulators.  Challenges to firms include the choice of entry, investment, standardization, and pricing strategies.  Regulatory challenges include the regulation of network access, universal services and prices.  At the same time competition policy becomes more important to ensure effective competition through action against anti-competitive behavior and merger control.  This project analyzes the need and the design of regulation and competition policy in network industries. In particular, we tackle issues such as:

• the impact of switching costs on market performance
• conflicts of central vs. decentralized merger control
• the regulation and organization of network industries
• compatibility and standardization