Home | Databases | WorldLII | Search | Feedback Edited Legal Collections Data

Rossi, Jim --- "Public Choice, Energy Regulation and Deregulation" [2010] ELECD 320; in Farber, A. Daniel; O’Connell, Joseph Anne (eds), "Research Handbook on Public Choice and Public Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2010)

Book Title: Research Handbook on Public Choice and Public Law

Editor(s): Farber, A. Daniel; O’Connell, Joseph Anne

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781847206749

Section: Chapter 13

Section Title: Public Choice, Energy Regulation and Deregulation

Author(s): Rossi, Jim

Number of pages: 31

Extract:

13 Public choice, energy regulation and
deregulation
Jim Rossi


The extent to which the interaction between private stakeholders and governmental
actors in the energy industry reflects self-interest rather than sound economic policy
was studied by public choice scholars as early as the 1960s and continues to hold the
attention of economists and political scientists today. Certain economic features and
legal doctrines that are commonplace under traditional public utility regulation ­ the
predominant approach by which many energy resources were price regulated through-
out the twentieth century ­ may reflect rent seeking on the part of private stakeholders
as much as enlightened public interest by lawmakers. For example, the preferences of
various interest groups have bolstered the stability of public utility legal doctrines, such
as consumer protection requirements and the judicial reluctance to extend strong consti-
tutional protections to energy firms.
Public choice approaches also can illuminate the regulatory and institutional arrange-
ments that have evolved in national energy regulation. Many energy resources are geo-
graphically based in source and extraction, yet nationwide in consumption. An interest
group approach to legislation sheds light on why Congress has selected to address some
energy issues at the national level, while ignoring others altogether or leaving them to
subnational governments. In addition, logrolling, which has characterized most recent
congressional energy legislation, helps to illustrate how seemingly disparate energy issues
have become connected in national energy policy and how national energy policy has
been largely unsatisfactory and unstable across time. It also advises caution in reading
...