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OverviewEssential services are being privatised the world over. Whether it's water, gas, electricity or the phone network, everywher from Sao Paulo in Brazil to Leeds in the UK is following the US economic model and handing public services over to private companies whose principal interest is raising prices. Yet it's one of the world's best kept secrets that Americans pay astonishingly little for high quality public services. Uniquely in the world, every aspect of US regulation is wide open to the public. How is this done and why has this process not taken root elsewhere? How is regulation threatened even in the United States? And what power does the public have to ensure that services are regulated along these US lines? This volume, based on work for the United Nations International Labour Organisation, is a step-by-step guide to the way that public services are regulated in the United States. It explains how decisions are made by public debate in a public forum. Profits and investments of private companies are capped, and companies are forced to reduce prices for the poor, fund environmental investments and open themselves to financial inspection. Full Product DetailsAuthor: Greg Palast , Jerrold Oppenheim , Theo MacGregorPublisher: Pluto Press Imprint: Pluto Press Dimensions: Width: 15.00cm , Height: 2.50cm , Length: 23.00cm Weight: 0.568kg ISBN: 9780745319438ISBN 10: 0745319432 Pages: 240 Publication Date: 20 December 2002 Audience: Professional and scholarly , Professional and scholarly , College/higher education , Professional & Vocational , Professional & Vocational Format: Hardback Publisher's Status: Out of Stock Indefinitely Availability: Out of stock  Table of ContentsDemocracy and Regulation: Introduction 1. Secrecy, Democracy And Regulation 2. Regulating In Public 3. Competition As Substitute For Regulation? Britain To California 4. Re-Regulation Is Not Deregulation 5. The Open Regulatory Process 6. Social Pricing 7. Issues That Are Publicly Decided 8. An Alternative: Democratic Negotiations 9. Be There: A Guide To Public Participation 10. A History Of Democratic Utility Regulation In The US 11. Regulating The Multinational Utility 12. Failed Experiments In The UK And The US 13. The Biggest Failures: California And Enron 14. International Democracy – Developing And Developed Countries 15. Conclusion Notes IndexReviewsThis volume discusses governmental regulation of public utilities--firms supplying electricity, gas, telephones, and water. Regulation works best, the authors argue, when regulators adhere to the democratic process: public access to information, public participation in setting prices. The US democratic process is generally superior to that elsewhere, e.g., in South Africa, India, Peru, the UK, Mexico, Bolivia, Brazil, and other countries. The authors (an economist-reporter, a lawyer, and a regulator) have a wealth of experience in utility regulation, and it is evident on every page. The recent electricity crisis in California (and Enron's participation) receives considerable attention. Throughout the book the democratic process receives most of the credit or blame. Unfortunately, the economic analysis is either weak or incomplete (e.g., no mention of the contribution to the California electricity crisis of either the drought in the Pacific Northwest or the prohibition of forward contracts). The authors' detailed description of the US utility regulatory system will be especially useful to those new to the topic. A companion source of information to this book is a Web site containing updates and additional documentation. Summing Up: Recommended. Public and undergraduate library collections. -- R. A. Miller, Wesleyan University in CHOICE The authors (an economist-reporter, a lawyer, and a regulator) have a wealth of experience in utility regulation, and it is evident on every page. The recent electricity crisis in California (and Enron's participation) receives considerable attention. Throughout the book the democratic process receives most of the credit or blame. The authors' detailed description of the US utility regulatory system will be especially useful to those new to the topic. -- R. A. Miller, Wesleyan University in CHOICE Author InformationGreg Palast has provided expert advice on regulation to government, labor, consumer and industry organisations in eight nations for over twenty-five years. He won the 1997 Financial Times David Thomas Prize for business journalism. His book of journalism for Pluto Press, The Best Democracy Money Can Buy, was published in April 2002 and has sold over 70,000 copies worldwide. Jerrold Oppenheim has lectured and published widely in the US and internationally on public utility and consumer law topics. Theo MacGregor was until 1998, director of the Electric Power Division of the Massachusetts Department of Telecommunications and Energy 9DTE), the state's utility regulator and now runs MacGregor Energy Consultancy. Tab Content 6Author Website:Countries AvailableAll regions |
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