This publication contains four introductory reports on: delimiting regulatory needs (G Knieps, Germany), transport infrastructure deregulation and public-private partnership (A Estache and T Serebrisky, USA), yardstick competition for transport infrastructure services (D Bouf and J Leveque, France) and the regulation of transport services and infrastructure- theoretical and policy issues (M Ponti, Italy). These are followed by a summary of discussions on the reports. It is considered that while deregulation and privatisation in the transport sector has led in general to increases in productivity, not all the intended results have materialised, particularly mobilisation of private resources and stability of franchise relations. There are major parts of the transport industry where indivisibilities, network economies and the absence or malfunctioning of resale markets for investment goods lead to inefficient market outcomes. Strict criteria are required to identify those sections which require any regulation at all. In these sections, the opportunities for private ownership, particulary of transport infrastructure, are considered overrated. The transaction costs induced by regulatory regimes require greater attention than in the past. Concern is expressed that the separation of ownership of infrastructure from transport operations and resulting neglect of transaction costs may lead to vertical disintegration. Any regulatory policy needs to acknowledge information discrepancies between the agencies involved. Some traditional regulatory concepts ignore the enormous monitoring and control costs incurred by regulators. Transport sector reforms have had little success in depoliticising the provision of transport infrastructure services. It is suggested that rule-bound performance-based mechanisms such as yardstick competition should have a greater role in the transport sector.
Abstract