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ABSTRACTThe paper develops a cost frontier model of electricity distribution and estimates it on data for the 12 regional electricity companies of England and Wales. It is found that some significant cost drivers in cross‐section estimation are insignificant when the model is estimated on panel data, highlighting the well‐known drawbacks of cross‐section estimation. Panel data estimation suggests that the main determinants of distribution operating costs are the number of customers in the area and simultaneous maximum demand. These results and the efficiency rankings of the companies are not sensitive to changes in error distribution assumptions and sample size. There is also significant evidence of economies of scale. There is a small but significant effect on cost efficiency from privatization, but this is as likely to be due to the changes in accounting policies at the time of privatization as any real effect.

How do you analyse consumption today? (what methods and questions?) I am not a consumer sociologist, but markets, and it would be more reasonable for me to refrain from answering! However, I finally discovered that studying the functioning of markets may, paradoxically, allow a better understanding of consumption than the study of consumers alone. I learned from the marketing contact (Cochoy, 1999). Sociologists generally show a condescending attitude towards marketing research, and they are wrong, especially when presenting themselves as consumer sociologists. In terms of consumer study, the traders have an impressive wealth of expertise: since the late 1960s, the Anglo-Saxon consumer research has developed a huge body of empirical studies and theoretical contributions from disciplines as diverse as economics, psychology, sociology, anthropology or, more recently, neurosciences, which are very difficult to compete. In the face of consumer research, consumer sociology has so far chosen only two options: or abandon the party, on the grounds that it would be presumptive to face this competition, or to do so as if consumer research did not exist, and to develop well away from the disciplinary provincial system work which is at best likely to repeat with more or less happiness the analyses already found in management journals, at worst to be seen as outdated or even much weaker than that published by the same reviews. None of these options are really satisfactory: one is too defensive and the other too close to politics. In order to emerge, I considered it more astucious, together with other colleagues such as Alexandre Mallard, to address the issue differently, ceasing to believe that the study of consumption necessarily involves studying consumers (Mallard and Cochoy, 2015). Every act of consumption involves three instances: a consumer, but also merchants and the product consumed. From this point of view, it is surprising to say the least that one has become accustomed to focusing on only one element of this ...

Cover; Title; Copyright; Dedication; Contents; About the Author; Preface; Acknowledgments; PART I Cost Basics; 1 Basic Cost Concepts; 2 Cost Behavior; 3 Cost Analysis; 4 Cost Accounting; 5 Cost Control; PART II Optimization in Government; 6 Classical Optimization; 7 Mathematical Programming; 8 Network Analysis; PART III Special Topics in Cost and Optimization; 9 Games and Decisions; 10 Productivity Measurement; 11 Quality Control; 12 Beyond Cost and Optimization; Bibliography; Index

CRITICS OF THE OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH ACT HAVE ARGUED THAT IT HAS GREATLY INCREASED THE COST OF OPERATION OF THE REGULATED INDUSTRIES WHILE PROVIDING VERY LITTLE BENEFITS. ALTHOUGH IT ENGAGED IN A NUMBER OF "NITPICKING" INSPECTIONS OF NON-SERIOUS CITATIONS, THE AVERAGE PENALTIES WERE EXTREMELY LOW. A NUMBER OF INDIRECT POSITIVE OUTCOMES COULD BE ATTRIBUTED TOOSHA.

Under some circumstances, the marginal cost approach to infrastructure pricing leads to problems with cost recovery; a pricing policy which ensures that existing assets are efficiently used may not deliver revenue to pay for the costs for maintenance of existing, nor indeed for construction of new infrastructure. For different reasons governments may find this inappropriate and rather want to complement the marginal-cost-pricing principle with a requirement for a sector of the economy to break even. Efficiency would then be jeopardised. The idea behind work package 2 is to establish the micro-aspects of requirements to recover costs over and above marginal costs. This is done for all modes of transport. More precisely, the objective of this report is to establish some core features of how each mode of transport is organised, to describe the implications of cost recovery requirements for each mode and to analyse different mechanisms which would ascertain that each mode covers a larger share of its own costs. ; CATRIN - Cost allocation of transport infrastructure cost

"The careful management of costs and operations are two of the most essential elements for successful operation of any organization - public, private, or nonprofit. This book demonstrates that a good grounding in cost basics, especially those related to cost accounting, operations management, and quality control can help all organizations, in particular government, increase efficiency, improve performance, and, in the end, do a better job of running its everyday operation. The book is divided into three parts: Part I offers thorough coverage of cost fundamentals, with an emphasis on basic cost concepts, cost behavior, cost analysis, cost assignment, cost allocation and cost control. Part II deals with optimization in government. Included in this part are traditional or classical optimization with applications in inventory management and queuing, followed by mathematical programming, network analysis, productivity measurement, and games and decisions. Finally, Part III deals with a special case in cost and optimization that has become important in recent years - quality control. Simple, accessible language and explanations are integrated throughout, and examples have been drawn from government so that readers can easily relate to them. Cost and Optimization is required reading for practicing public managers and students of public administration in need of a clear, concise guide to maximizing public resource efficiency"--