Competition in Telecommunications (Munich Lectures) - Softcover

Laffont, Jean-Jacques; Tirole, Jean

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0262621509 ISBN 13: 9780262621502

Publisher: MIT Press, 2001

Synopsis

Theoretical models based on the assumption that telecommunications is a natural monopoly no longer reflect reality. As a result, policymakers often lack the guidance of economic theorists. Competition in Telecommunications is written in a style accessible to managers, consultants, government officials, and others. Jean-Jacques Laffont and Jean Tirole analyze regulatory reform and the emergence of competition in network industries using the state-of-the-art theoretical tools of industrial organization, political economy, and the economics of incentives. The book opens with background information for the reader who is unfamiliar with current issues in the telecommunications industry. The following sections focus on four central aspects of the recent deregulatory movement: the introduction of incentive regulation; one-way access (access given by a local network to the providers of complementary segments, such as long-distance or information services); the special nature of competition in an industry requiring two-way access (whereby competing networks depend on the mutual termination of calls); and universal service, in particular the two leading contenders for the competitively neutral provision of universal service: the use of engineering models to compute subsidies and the design of universal service auctions. The book concludes with a discussion of the Internet and regulatory institutions.

Copublished with the Center for Economic Studies and the Ifo Institute.

About this title

About the Author:

Jean-Jacques Laffont was Professor of Economics at the Université des Sciences Sociales de Toulouse and the Institut Universitaire de France and Director of the Institut d'Economie Industrielle.

Jean Tirole, the 2014 Nobel Laureate in Economics, is Scientific Director of IDEI (Institut d'Economie Industrielle), Chairman of the Board of TSE (Toulouse School of Economics), and Annual Visiting Professor of Economics at MIT.

Review:

-- Carl Shapiro, Transamerica Professor of Business Strategy, University of California, Berkeley, and author of "Information Rules: A Strategic Guide to the Network Economy"

" Laffont and Tirole have combined their mastery of economic theory with real-world telecom know-how to produce a gem of a book. If you want to deepen your understanding of telecom--and of network industries generally-you must read this book." -- Carl Shapiro, Transamerica Professor of Business Strategy, University of California, Berkeley, and author of "Information Rules: A Strategic Guide to the Network Economy"

& quot; Laffont and Tirole have combined their mastery of economic theory with real-world telecom know-how to produce a gem of a book. If you want to deepen your understanding of telecom--and of network industries generally-you must read this book.& quot; -- Carl Shapiro, Transamerica Professor of Business Strategy, University of California, Berkeley, and author of Information Rules: A Strategic Guide to the Network Economy

"Laffont and Tirole have combined their mastery of economic theory with real-world telecom know-how to produce a gem of a book. If you want to deepen your understanding of telecom--and of network industries generally-you must read this book."--Carl Shapiro, Transamerica Professor of Business Strategy, University of California, Berkeley, and author of "Information Rules: A Strategic Guide to the Network Economy"

About this edition

• Publisher: MIT Press
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0262621509
• ISBN 13: 9780262621502
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 336