Privatisation and Regulation

Seminar paper from the year 2004 in the subject Economy - Theory of Competition, Competition Policy, grade: 1, University of Ulster (School of Business Organisation and Management), course: Business Economics, language: English, abstract: Index Introduction 1. The market forces argument 4 2. Breakdown of the market forces argument in natural monopolies 6 3. Economic key issues which regulators of privatised industries should consider 8 4. References 12 Introduction This essay covers some issues of privatisation and regulation. It is divided into three parts. Part one gives a brief outline of the author`s understanding of the market forces argument for privatisation. In the second part it is explained what is meant by a natural monopoly and why the market forces argument does not hold if an industry is a natural monopoly. The third part then discusses which economic key issues should be considered by the regulatory body of a privatised industry. Privatisation is the transfer of public ownership away from the state to private ownership. Regulation is a limitation on the behaviour of firms or organizations, imposed by the government. From the view of competition it is the aim to remove market distortions which are caused by public enterprises and regulations (Case K. et al. 1999: 356.)