Welfare Analysis of Telecommunication Tariffs in Germany

Karl-Heinz Neumann, Urs Schweizer and C. Christian Weizsäcker

Chapter 4 in Public Sector Economics, 1983, pp 65-85 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract In this chapter the theory of optimal pricing is adapted and used for an empirical welfare analysis of the telecommunication tariffs in the Federal Republic of Germany. Though only rough estimates of marginal costs and demand elasticities are currently (1979) available, all empirical evidence seems to suggest that the present structure of tariffs is not optimal in any sense whatever. Prices are set above marginal costs and huge profits arise which then are used to cover deficits from postal services and as subsidies to the governmental budget. But even at the 1979 level of profits it seems possible to lower social losses considerably simply by restructuring telecommunication tariffs.

Keywords: Marginal Cost; Demand Function; Price Elasticity; Welfare Loss; Price Vector (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1983
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
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:pal:palchp:978-1-349-06504-2_4

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.palgrave.com/9781349065042

DOI: 10.1007/978-1-349-06504-2_4

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Palgrave Macmillan Books from Palgrave Macmillan
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().