Railway (De)Regulation: A European Efficiency Comparison

36 Pages Posted: 23 Feb 2004

See all articles by Guido Friebel

Guido Friebel

Goethe University Frankfurt; Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR); IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Marc Ivaldi

Toulouse School of Economics; Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

Catherine Vibes

University of Toulouse 1 - Centre Interuniversitaire de Calcul de Toulouse (CICT)

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: March 2005

Abstract

Many European countries have sought to increase the efficiency of national railroad companies through a range of reforms: separating infrastructure and operations, creating independent regulatory institutions and providing access to the network to third parties. To estimate the effects of reforms on railroad efficiency, we investigate a new World Bank panel data set that covers many EU countries over a period of 20 years. We compare the passenger traffic efficiency of national railroad companies by means of a production frontier model and evaluate the effects of reforms on efficiency. We find that reforms have efficiency-increasing effects but that the effect of reforms depends on sequencing: The introduction of multiple reforms in a package has at best neutral effects, but sequential reforms improve efficiency. Using the LISREL technique, we find that our results are robust against potential problems of endogeneity.

Keywords: Production frontier, regulatory reform, network industries, panel data analysis, passenger and freight traffic

JEL Classification: L51, L92, D24, C23

Suggested Citation

Friebel, Guido and Ivaldi, Marc and Vibes, Catherine, Railway (De)Regulation: A European Efficiency Comparison (March 2005). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=505302 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.505302

Guido Friebel (Contact Author)

Goethe University Frankfurt ( email )

Grüneburgplatz 1
Frankfurt am Main, 60323
Germany

Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

London
United Kingdom

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

Marc Ivaldi

Toulouse School of Economics ( email )

Manufacture des Tabacs
21 Allee de Brienne bat. F
Toulouse Cedex, F-31000
France
+33 5 61 12 8592 (Phone)
+33 5 61 12 8637 (Fax)

Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

London
United Kingdom

Catherine Vibes

University of Toulouse 1 - Centre Interuniversitaire de Calcul de Toulouse (CICT) ( email )

118, route de Narbonne
Toulouse Cedex 4, F-31062
France

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