Title :
Does regulatory independence translate into a higher degree of liberalization? - Evidence from EU energy regulators
Author :
Lindemann, Henrik
Author_Institution :
Sch. of Econ. & Manage., Univ. of Hannover, Hannover, Germany
Abstract :
Independent regulatory authorities are a basic prerequisite for a successful liberalization process. However, contrary to what is expected, a first glimpse at a small sample of electricity and gas regulators operating in 16 European countries reveals a negative relationship between their formal autonomy from politicians and the scope of market reforms. These findings might suffer from endogeneity, though, so we draw on political scientists´ explanations for diverging independence levels to construct appropriate instruments. The 2SLS-results then confirm conventional wisdom: the higher the degree of regulatory autonomy, the higher the level of liberalization.
Keywords :
electricity supply industry deregulation; 2SLS; EU energy regulators; electricity regulators; electricity supply industry liberalization; gas regulators; market reforms; regulatory autonomy; regulatory independence; Economics; Electricity; Europe; Government; Indexes; Instruments; Regulators;
Conference_Titel :
European Energy Market (EEM), 2013 10th International Conference on the
Conference_Location :
Stockholm
DOI :
10.1109/EEM.2013.6607412