UCL FACULTY OF LAWS
Jevons Institute for Competition Law and Economics

Jevons Institution for Competition Law and Economics

LAW AND ECONOMICS OF REGULATED MARKETS AND INDUSTRIES (LAWSG024)
Credit value: 15 credits (6 ECTS)
Module Convenor:
Dr Ioannis Lianos		 Other Teachers:
Dr. Peter Davis (visiting professor),
Ms Deni Mantzari
Intercollegiate teaching: No
Teaching Method: 10 x two-hour seminars
Who may enrol: LLM students, SIL students
Prerequisites: None
Barred module combinations: None
Core module for specialism: Competition Law, Law and Economics
Assessment
Practice Assessment: to be confirmed
Assessment method for LLM students: 2-hour unseen written examination
Assessment method for SIL students: 3.000 word coursework essay
Module Overview

Module summary

The module examines the legal and economic principles involved in the analysis of the traditional regulated industries (e.g. telecoms, energy, financial services) in Europe, the United States and other selected jurisdictions. By the end of the module, students should be able to:

  • have a thorough and critical understanding of the UK, EU and US law in the traditional regulated industries (energy, telecoms, financial services) and to evaluate the differences and functions of each
  • understand the basic economic principles underpinning regulation
  • form their own independent view on the regulation/deregulation and the privatization/nationalization/contracting out debates

Module syllabus

Topics examined. Some topics will be examined in the same seminar or in different seminars

  • Why regulate?: Introduction to “regulated industries” law and economics (rationales, history, regulation/deregulation) Common law/ evolution to regulation, the transformation of regulated industries law (Liberalization/ Deregulation movement EU, US, UK)/ Comparative analysis of the current institutional structure EU, US
  • How to regulate? Introduction to different regulatory tools: cost benefit analysis as a prerequisite of regulation, regulation through ownership (Public ownership), privatizations, Public Private Partnerships (PPPs), command and control regulation, incentive regulation, auctions
  • The scope of application of competition law to regulated industries and comparison to regulatory alternatives: Exemptions, immunities.
  • The Interaction between Competition Law and Regulation and the emergence of regulatory antitrust//case study: Refusal to deal/essential facilities doctrine
  • Regulation of network industries: unbundling, market power issues in network industries (vertical integration), dynamic efficiency considerations, network neutrality regulation
  • Networks, price regulation of Vertical Industries and optimal access pricing (Pool Pricing in UK electricity sector– Access Pricing (ECPR etc), case studies)
  • Rate of Return Regulation, Profit Regulation, Price Cap Regulation, RPI-X, Price Indices and the capital structure of utility firms
  • Foreclosure and long term contracts in the energy sector
  • Public interests and competition law enforcement: Universal service (subsidizing access)
  • Merger control in utilities: substance and institutional structure
  • Competition law and regulation in the financial industry or healthcare sector
  • Institutional structure: judicial review of economic regulation: a comparative perspective

Recommended materials

  • Baldwin and Cave, Understanding Regulation, 1999
  • Breyer,S. Regulation and its Reform. 1982
  • Cameron, Competition in Energy Markets – Law and Regulation in the European Union, 2d ed. 2007
  • Crew and Schuh (ed.), Markets, pricing, and deregulation of utilities (Kluwer, 2003)
  • Geradin & Kerf, Controlling Market Power in Telecommunications (OUP, 2003)
  • Gómez-Ibánez, Regulating Infrastructure (Harvard Univ. Press, 2003)
  • Graham, Regulating Public Utilities, A Constitutional Approach, 2000.
  • Helm and Jenkinson, Competition in Regulated Industries, 1998.
  • Millward, Private and Public Enterprises in Europe (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2007)
  • Moss (ed.), Network Access, Regulation and Antitrust (Routledge, 2005)
  • Newbery,D. 1999. Privatization, Restructuring and Regulation of Network Utilities, 1999.
  • Ogus, Regulation 1994.
  • Pierce & Gellhorn, Regulated Industries in a nutshell (West, 1999)
  • Prosser, Law and the Regulators, 1997
  • Savas, Privatisation and Public-Private Partnerships, 2000
  • Veljanowski, ed Regulators and the Market, 1991
  • Vickers and Yarrow, Privatisation: An Economic Analysis, 1997
  • Viscusi, Harrington & Vernon, Economics of Regulation and Antitrust (MIT Press, 2005)
  • Vogel, Freer Markets, More Rules, 1996
  • Walden & Angel (ed.) Telecommunications Law and Regulation (OUP, 3nd ed. 2009)

Preliminary reading

  • Baldwin and Cave, Understanding Regulation, 1999
  • Breyer,S. Regulation and its Reform. 1982
Other information: N/A

Prizes for this module:

Valentine Korah prize
Jevons Institute prize