In many industries market concentration creates monopoly power. This section of the course examines the economic consequences of monopoly power, and shows how antitrust laws attempt to correct these market failures. In order to fully appreciate how regulation works it is necessary to understand how it comes about. This section of the course provides information on how regulation comes in to being. The material covered here examines the motives that consumers, firms and regulators have in implementing, or opposing the implementation of, regulation.
Public utilities are the best examples of natural monopolies.
In this section of the course optimal pricing policies for public utilities are developed. In the last 20 years governments have moved to deregulate industries. Some examples of once regulated industries are airlines, railroads, trucking, natural gas and telecommunications. In this section of the course the pros and cons of deregulation are examined through in depth analysis of deregulated industries. Individual topics are selected based on class interest.