WHO (ELSE) BENEFITS FROM ELECTRICITY DEREGULATION? COAL PRICES, NATURAL GAS, AND PRICE DISCRIMINATION

Jonathan Hughes () and Ian Lange

Economic Inquiry, 2020, vol. 58, issue 3, 1053-1075

Abstract: Deregulation of major industries over the past 40 years has produced large efficiency gains. However, distributional effects have been more difficult to assess. In the electricity sector, deregulation has vastly increased information available to market participants through the formation of wholesale markets. We test whether upstream suppliers, specifically railroads that transport coal from mines to power plants, use this information to capture economic rents that would otherwise accrue to electricity generators. We find railroads charge higher markups when rents are larger. This effect is larger for deregulated plants, highlighting an important distributional impact of deregulation. (JEL L11, L51, Q48)

Date: 2020
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https://doi.org/10.1111/ecin.12896

Related works:
Working Paper: Who (Else) Benefits from Electricity Deregulation? Coal Prices, Natural Gas and Price Discrimination (2018)
Working Paper: Who (Else) Benefits from Electricity Deregulation? Coal prices, natural gas and price discrimination (2018)
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