Worldwide, postal and delivery economics has attracted considerable interest. Numerous questions have arisen, including the role of regulation, funding the Universal Service Obligation, postal reform in Europe, Asia and North America, the future of national Postal Operators, demand and pricing strategies, and the principles that should govern the introduction of competition. Collected here are responses to these questions in the form of 24 essays written by researchers, practitioners, and senior managers from throughout the world. This volume will have a broad appeal, with an audience ranging from practitioners in the express and delivery industry, national Postal Operators and managers, to economists, regulators, competition lawyers, marketers, scholars in economic regulation, and institutional libraries.
Pt. I Universal Service Obligation
1 Regulation and the USO under entry by Michael A. Crew and Paul R. Kleindorfer 3
2 Social costs and benefits of the universal service obligation in the postal market by Helmuth Cremer and Philippe De Donder and Francois Boldron and Denis Jorum and Bernard Roy 23
3 The distribution of post offices in Italy and the United States by Robert Cohen and Luigi Di Paola and Renee Sheehy and Vincenzo Visco Comandini 36
4 Accessibility of the postal retail network, social cohesion and economic development by Francois Boldron and Karen Dewulf and Denis Jorum and Clernence Panel and Bernard Roy and Olivier Vialaneix 47
Pt. II Demand
5 Forecast uncertainty in dynamic models: an application to the demand for mail by Catherine Cuzals and Jean-Pierre Florens and Frank Rodriguez and Soterios Soteri 63
6 The impact of economic and demographic dispersion on aggregate mail volumes by Luis Jimenez and Matthew C. Harding and Michael Lintell 74
7 Substitution of letter mail for different sender-receiver segments by Heikki Nikali 89
8 Empirical analysis of service quality in Japan's small package market by Shoji Maruyama 107
Pt. III Pricing Under Entry
9 Access, bypass and productivity gains in competitive postal markets by Francis Bloch and Axel Gamier 125
10 Pricing in competitive two-sided mail markets by Christian Jaag and Urs Trinkner 136
11 Pricing, welfare and organisational constraints for postal operators by Philippe De Donder and Helmuth Cremer and Paul Dudley and Frank Rodriguez 150
12 National postal strategies after a full postal market opening by Gonzales d'Alcantara and Axel Gautier 167
Pt. IV Regulation
13 Postcodes in competitive postal markets: is there a case for regulation? by Alex Dieke and Sonja Scholermann 189
More...