Is the Public Utility Concept Obsolete?
回顾了美国公共事业监管的历史争议，分析当前主张以竞争替代监管的观点，并在现代结构条件下评估监管改革提案。
Public utility regulation is a uniquely American structural innovation, and has evoked ambivalence on the part of the public, and more particularly the economics profession, over the years. Almost from the time of its inception, diverse voices have sounded its death knell. While many of the early critics of regulation, irrespective of philosophic bent, recognized that inherent structural conditions preclude the emergence of competition, contemporary critics urge that regulation be eliminated and replaced with competition or a competitive surrogate. The paper examines the opposing viewpoints and current proposals for "regulatory reform" within the context of contemporary structural conditions.