Ringing in the 20 th Century: The Effects of State Monopolies, Private Ownership, and Operating Licenses on Telecommunications in Europe, 1892-1914 (2001)
| Venue: | Private Ownership, and Operating Licenses on Telecommunications in Europe, 1982-1914,” Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research Discussion Paper |
BibTeX
@INPROCEEDINGS{Swallstenworldbank01ringingin,
author = {Scott Wallsten Swallstenworldbank and Scott Wallsten},
title = {Ringing in the 20 th Century: The Effects of State Monopolies, Private Ownership, and Operating Licenses on Telecommunications in Europe, 1892-1914},
booktitle = {Private Ownership, and Operating Licenses on Telecommunications in Europe, 1982-1914,” Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research Discussion Paper},
year = {2001},
pages = {00--37}
}
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Abstract
The current wave of telecom liberalization actually represents a return to private provision and competition in many countries rather than a new phenomenon. The early 20 th century saw great variation in sector structure, with state-owned monopolies in some countries and vigorous competition in others. This paper uses an original dataset compiled from ram-of-the-(20 th) century industry documents and scholarly works to test the effects of government monopoly service, private provision, and operating licenses on early telephone development. Controlling for per capita income and, when possible, country and year fixed effects, I find state monopoly provision correlated with lower telephone penetration and higher long-distance prices than privately-provided service. Contrary to conventional wisdom, state-owned monopolies also provided worse rural service. Operating licenses that allowed the state to appropriate firms' assets lead to lower telephone penetration and higher prices.
Keyphrases
th century operating license state monopoly private ownership state-owned monopoly private provision telephone penetration great variation caput income long-distance price many country century industry document early telephone development current wave government monopoly service state monopoly provision original dataset telecom liberalization conventional wisdom sector structure privately-provided service rural service vigorous competition new phenomenon
