The Costs of Public and Private Gas Enterprises in Late 19th Century Britain

Robert Millward and Robert Ward

Oxford Economic Papers, 1987, vol. 39, issue 4, 719-37

Abstract: Data for a sample of thirty-five U.K. gas undertakings for 1898 was used to estimate a translog cost function. Labor accou nted for less than 15 percent of total costs. Changes in outlays on c oal have significant effects on total costs. Economies of scale exist but tend to disappear at production volumes which are near to averag e for the provincial gas undertakings. After controlling for factor p rices, population density, and output levels, municipal enterprises a re shown to have lower costs than the private companies though the ef fect is small and statistically insignificant. Copyright 1987 by Royal Economic Society.

Date: 1987
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