This book offers a most comprehensive characterization of the historical, institutional and economic forces affecting electricity regulation. Eminent economists organized by the University of California Energy Institute survey the USA, UK, Scandinavia, Latin America, France, Germany, Japan, Canada, New Zealand and Yugoslavia. Recent experiments with privatization, competition and restructuring in electricity are contrasted with instances where government ownership and traditional vertical integration still dominate. The introductory essay by Richard J. Gilbert, Edward P. Kahn and David Newbery synthesizes individual country studies. In any regulatory system, the government must bargain with investors and consumers to satisfy conflicting interests. The opacity of information about cost constrains this process. Governments also impose multiple political and economic objectives on the electricity industry, which further obscures cost conditions. Privatization and deregulation tend to reverse these effects. Few countries, however, have managed to sustain private ownership in the long run.

"...delves insightfully into the electricity industries of some countries that have moved to restructure, such as in Scandinavia, the Southern Cone countries of South America, New Zealand and the U.K.; as well as those that have not, such as Germany, France and Japan. This book, rich with data and history as well as current movements and prospects, provides a wealth of information about the electricity industries of these countries, in many of which U.S. firms are now investing substantial capital." The Electricity Journal

"Electric power sectors around the world are going through dramatic changes. This book provides an interesting and useful set of papers that examines the organizational, ownership and regulatory structures of the electricity sectors in a diverse set of countries. It explains the problems these sectors have faced, why and how they are changing in response to them. Must reading for anyone interested in understanding the changes taking place around the world in this important infrastructure sector." Paul L. Joskow, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

"Rnternational Comparisons is a useful resource for the researcher or teacher with an interest in public utilities." Stephen H. Karlson, Journal of Comparative Economics