价格上限规制何以优于回报率规制

Reason for the Price Cap Regulation Superior to the Rate of Return Regulation

近几十年来,价格上限规制因其能带来更有效率的定价结构以及厂商在此种规制下压缩成本的强烈动机,使其在很大程度上替代了回报率规制。然而,在微观经济学教科书中,却较少探讨价格上限规制这一内容。在此,文章进行了简单探讨,以表明这种规制何以优于传统的回报率规制,以填补教材在此方面的缺失。

Within the last 20 years, price-cap regulation has largely replaced the rate-of-return regulation because of its potential to generate more efficient pricing structures and strong incentives for cost reduction. However, price-cap regulation has received little attention in microeconomics textbooks. The author provides a primary discussion of price-cap regulation that demonstrates its superiority over conventional rate-of-return regulation, which forms the basis for a lecture on contemporary natural monopoly regulation.