Imperfect Markets versus Imperfect Regulation in US Electricity Generation
利用美国1999至2012年逐步向市场机制过渡的数据，采用双重差分法估计电力市场化对发电成本的影响，发现市场通过重新分配生产降低了5%的成本，贸易收益增加55%，低效机组成本下降16%。
This paper evaluates changes in electricity generation costs caused by the introduction of market mechanisms to determine production in the United States. I use the staggered transition to markets from 1999 to 2012 to estimate the causal impact of liberalization using a differences-in-difference design on a comprehensive hourly panel of electricity demand, generators’ costs, capacities, and output. I find that markets reduce production costs by 5 percent by reallocating production: gains from trade across service areas increase by 55 percent based on a 25 percent increase in traded electricity, and costs from using uneconomical units fall 16 percent.