Abstract
This paper analyses the important influence which the vertical structure of postal networks will have on the efficient introduction of increased competition into markets for postal and delivery services. This is due to the fact that postal providers must provide a sequence of intermediate services (collection, sortation, transportation, and local delivery) before they have produced a service valued by final consumers. This vertical sequence of activities and the concentration of postal scale economies in local delivery suggest that competition can be efficiently introduced into postal markets through a system of local delivery access pricing, similar to that which has developed in the post divestiture telecommunications industry in the United States.
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Panzar, J.C., Sherman, R. (1993). Competition, Efficiency, and the Vertical Structure of Postal Services. In: Crew, M.A., Kleindorfer, P.R. (eds) Regulation and the Nature of Postal and Delivery Services. Topics in Regulatory Economics and Policy Series, vol 12. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-3120-3_6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-3120-3_6
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