Deregulation, Consolidation, and Efficiency: Evidence from US Nuclear Power

Lucas Davis and Catherine Wolfram

American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 2012, vol. 4, issue 4, 194-225

Abstract: Beginning in the late 1990s, electricity markets in many US states were deregulated, and almost half of the nation's 103 nuclear power reactors were sold to independent power producers. Deregulation has been accompanied by substantial market consolidation, and today the three largest companies control one-third of US nuclear capacity. We find that deregulation and consolidation are associated with a 10 percent increase in operating performance, achieved primarily by reducing the duration of reactor outages. At average wholesale prices, this increased operating performance is worth $2.5 billion annually and implies an annual decrease of 35 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions. (JEL L11, L51, L94, L98, Q42, Q48)

JEL-codes: L11 L51 L94 L98 Q42 Q48 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
Note: DOI: 10.1257/app.4.4.194
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (66)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/app.4.4.194 (application/pdf)
http://www.aeaweb.org/aej/app/data/2012-0052_data.zip (application/zip)
http://www.aeaweb.org/aej/app/app/2012-0052_app.pdf (application/pdf)
Access to full text is restricted to AEA members and institutional subscribers.

Related works:
Working Paper: Deregulation, Consolidation, and Efficiency: Evidence from U.S. Nuclear Power (2011)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aea:aejapp:v:4:y:2012:i:4:p:194-225

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.aeaweb.org/journals/subscriptions

Access Statistics for this article

American Economic Journal: Applied Economics is currently edited by Alexandre Mas

More articles in American Economic Journal: Applied Economics from American Economic Association Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Michael P. Albert ().