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This study examines the distortive effects of the states’ regulatory climate on the underwriting costs of new equity issues of public utilities. Each state has its own public utility commission (or public service commission) to regulate the natural monopolies of public utilities. The wealth‐maximizing behavior of utilities is constrained by the rate‐making process monitored by the commissions. The policies of a state’s commission collectively establish the ’regulatory climate’ in that state. Using a sample of new equity securities issued, during the period from January 1973 through September 1980, by utilities listed on the New York Stock Exchange and the American Stock Exchange, we investigate the effect of the regulatory climate on underwriting costs. Our findings are that,in general, the direct costs of flotation, namely, underwriting commissions and out‐of‐pocket expenses,are positively related to regulatory climate where as the indirect cost of flotation, namely, underpricing of the new issue, is negatively related to regulatory climate. These results are counter intuitive since they imply that as the regulatory climate becomes more unfavorable the direct costs of flotation increase and the indirect cost of flotation decreases. This is clearly a distortive effect of the regulation and we offer some explanations for it.

The Bureau of Economics in the Federal Trade Commission has a three-part role in the Agency and the strength of its functions changed over time depending on the preferences and ideology of the FTC’s leaders, developments in the field of economics, and the tenor of the times. The over-riding current role is to provide well considered, unbiased economic advice regarding antitrust and consumer protection law enforcement cases to the legal staff and the Commission. The second role, which long ago was primary, is to provide reports on investigations of various industries to the public and public officials. This role was more recently called research or “policy R&D”. A third role is to advocate for competition and markets both domestically and internationally. As a practical matter, the provision of economic advice to the FTC and to the legal staff has required that the economists wear “two hats,” helping the legal staff investigate cases and provide evidence to support law enforcement cases while also providing advice to the legal bureaus and to the Commission on which cases to pursue (thus providing “a second set of eyes” to evaluate cases). There is sometimes a tension in those functions because building a case is not the same as evaluating a case. Economists and the Bureau of Economics have provided such services to the FTC for over 100 years proving that a sub-organization can survive while playing roles that sometimes conflict. Such a life is not, however, always easy or fun.

In the discussion groups subjects will be taken up which are not dealt with in the lectures. The subjects to be taken up in the discussion groups of each week and the assignments relating thereto will be announced well in advance of the meetings.

A typology of interventionism can categorize regulations, taxes, and subsidies both theoretically and as they sequentially unfold in practice. This typology is inspired by, but broader than, the Mises interventionist thesis, which, similar to Madison's lament, recognizes the propensity of intervention to expand from its own shortcomings in the elusive quest to achieve economic rationality (Lavoie, 1982, p. 180; Ikeda, 1997, pp. 41–46; Bradley, 2006).

Access to high-speed Internet is essential for full and consequential participation in the civic, economic, and education systems of modern life. Yet 30% of Californians continue to lack “meaningful Internet access” at home. This digital divide is worse among already disadvantaged communities and prevents rural, lower-income, and disabled individuals from fully participating in the civic, economic, and education systems of life in 2018. This chapter establishes the magnitude of the digital divide, examines the factors that contribute to the Divide, and looks at which groups are most affected. Successful government programs that invested in utility infrastructure and adoption, such as the Rural Electrification Act, the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act and the California Advanced Services Fund, are examined to provide a foundation for broadband specific policy recommendations. The chapter sets up a framework for policy recommendations by segmenting the population based upon the concepts of material and motivational access and establishing meaningful Internet access as the goal for policy-makers. The chapter puts forth a number of specific policy recommendations to address the technological disparity and prevent it from furthering the economic and educational divides.

Regulatory lag is that time between a utility's request for new rates and the granting of the rates by utility commissions. The impact of inflation and regulatory lag is presented. The relationships between regulatory lag, asset life, construction costs and utility return requirements are examined with implications for utility management, shareholders and consumers. Possible solutions to the problem of regulatory lag result. A major conclusion is that regulatory lag causes utility managers to act inefficiently and increase consumer costs to the point where the elimination of regulatory lag would be beneficial to consumers as well as investors.

INTRODUCTION During the past dozen years a relatively large theoretical literature has grown out of the models proposed by Averch‐Johnson (2) and, to a lesser extent, Wellisz (90). Averch‐Johnson (here‐after A‐J) pointed out the now famous overcapitalization effect‐that a monopoly subject to rate of return regulation has an incentive to use more than the cost minimizing value of capital. The A‐J model was at first regarded as simply a theoretical explanation of what was long thought to be a significant cost of regulation. After languishing in this state for several years, the model achieved some popularity as a vehicle for theoretical explorations of various aspects of rate regulation. To date, the A‐J model has given rise to nearly forty papers on what has come to be called “the theory of regulatory constraint.”

The aim of this article is to show that US public‐service telecommunications, developing through a complex historical process, both engendered and depended on policies that compelled major changes in system development.

The article contributes to the historiography of US telecommunications, and draws on archival sources and secondary scholarship.

The article shows that public service policies for telecommunications gradually became dominant, as widespread opposition to AT&T's corporate power gained political traction beginning in the 1930s. Although substantially limited, public service policies came to encompass expansion of service, labor relations, and corporate patents.

The article demonstrates that political conflict and crisis, not consensus, drove policy formation. It also shows that public service principles went far beyond the preferences of AT&T executives.

This paper aims to analyze the environmental and historic preservation precedents that have been adopted and acknowledged by telecommunications firms when expanding their physical infrastructures.

This paper will conduct a policy analysis of contradictory regulatory goals that are expected to arise during the near-future rollout of 5G in the USA. This will be done via traditional legal research combined with a critical policy focus. Particular attention will be given to the public interest remedies that have been established for companies that have used private or public property.

Due to the spatial requirements of 5G network infrastructure, telecommunications policy (in which network development is paramount) is expected to conflict with land use-oriented regulations (environmental and historic preservation) in places where new 5G infrastructure must be approved and built.

Ultimately, the paper will argue that conflicts will arise in local areas where the 5G rollout is expected to impact environmentally pristine areas or historic buildings.

Research in the environmental effects of 5G technology in general is becoming common, but conflicts between network construction and particular environmental or historic preservation regulations has not been the topic of organized research thus far.