Measuring Productivity Gains from Deregulation of the Japanese Urban Gas Industry

Tanaka, Kenta and Managi, Shunsuke (2013): Measuring Productivity Gains from Deregulation of the Japanese Urban Gas Industry.

Abstract

The Japanese government initiated a series of regulatory reforms in the mid-1990s. The Japanese urban gas industry consists of various sized private and non-private firms. Numerous previous studies find that deregulation leads to productivity improvements. We extend the literature by analyzing deregulation, privatization, and other aspects of a regulated industry using unique firm level data. This study measures productivity to evaluate the effect of the deregulation reform. Using data from 205 firms from 1993 to 2004, we find that the deregulation effect differs depending on firm size. Competitive pressure contributes to advanced productivity. The deregulation of gas sales to commercial customers is the most important factor for advancing productivity.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Productivity analysis, Deregulation reform, Gas industry, Proportional distance function, Natural gas
• Subjects: C - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods > C5 - Econometric Modeling > C51 - Model Construction and Estimation; L - Industrial Organization > L5 - Regulation and Industrial Policy > L51 - Economics of Regulation; L - Industrial Organization > L9 - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities > L95 - Gas Utilities ; Pipelines ; Water Utilities

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