Selling power : economics, policy, and electric utilities before 1940
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Selling power : economics, policy, and electric utilities before 1940
(Markets and governments in economic history)
University of Chicago Press, 2016
- : cloth
Available at 5 libraries
  Aomori
  Iwate
  Miyagi
  Akita
  Yamagata
  Fukushima
  Ibaraki
  Tochigi
  Gunma
  Saitama
  Chiba
  Tokyo
  Kanagawa
  Niigata
  Toyama
  Ishikawa
  Fukui
  Yamanashi
  Nagano
  Gifu
  Shizuoka
  Aichi
  Mie
  Shiga
  Kyoto
  Osaka
  Hyogo
  Nara
  Wakayama
  Tottori
  Shimane
  Okayama
  Hiroshima
  Yamaguchi
  Tokushima
  Kagawa
  Ehime
  Kochi
  Fukuoka
  Saga
  Nagasaki
  Kumamoto
  Oita
  Miyazaki
  Kagoshima
  Okinawa
  Korea
  China
  Thailand
  United Kingdom
  Germany
  Switzerland
  France
  Belgium
  Netherlands
  Sweden
  Norway
  United States of America
-
National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies Library (GRIPS Library)
: cloth540.925||N6701439548
Note
Includes bibliographical references and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
We remember Thomas Edison as the inventor of the incandescent light bulb, but he deserves credit for something much larger, an even more singular invention that profoundly changed the way the world works: the modern electric utility industry. Edison's light bulb was the first to work within a system where a utility generated electricity and distributed it to customers for lighting. The story of how electric utilities went within one generation from prototype to an indispensable part of most Americans' lives is a story about the relationships between political and technological change. John L. Neufeld offers a comprehensive historical treatment of the economics that shaped electric utilities. Compared with most industries, the organization of the electric utility industry is not and cannot be economically efficient. Most industries are kept by law in a state of fair competition, but the capital necessary to start an electric company generators, transmission and distribution systems, and land and buildings is so substantial that few companies can enter the market and compete.
Therefore, the natural state of the electric utility industry since its inception has been a monopoly subject to government oversight. These characteristics of electric utilities and electricity's importance have created over time sharp political controversies, and changing public policies have dramatically changed the industry's structure to an extent matched by few other industries. Neufeld outlines the struggles that shaped the industry's development, and shows how the experience of electric utilities provides insight into the design of economic institutions, including today's new large-scale markets.
by "Nielsen BookData"