Littlechild, Stephen --- "Michael Beesley's contribution to privatization, competition and regulation" [2002] ELECD 28; in Robinson, Colin (ed), "Utility Regulation and Competition Policy" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2002)

Book Title: Utility Regulation and Competition Policy

Editor(s): Robinson, Colin

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781840648508

Section Title: Michael Beesley's contribution to privatization, competition and regulation

Author(s): Littlechild, Stephen

Number of pages: 5

Extract:

Michael Beesley's contribution to
privatization, competition and regulation
Stephen Littlechild

I have been asked to add some comments on the contributions of Professor
Michael Beesley to privatization, competition and regulation.
Everyone here knows how enthusiastic Michael was about privatization,
competition and regulation. He spent long hours on these topics, wrote
countless memos, and made excited phone calls. Not everyone had the
pleasure of receiving these phone calls on Saturday nights and Sunday
mornings. But we always took the calls because we knew we would benefit
from them, and Michael's enthusiasm was infectious.
What made Michael's contributions so valuable? Certainly he had greater
breadth of experience in relevant areas than anyone else. He had been involved
in all the utility industries. In the 1960s (when I first met him), he was Reader
in Transport Economics at the LSE and Economic Adviser to the Department
of Transport. His responsibilities included road, rail, bus and air transport. In
the 1980s he advised the Department of Industry on the liberalization of
telecommunications, the Department of Transport on bus privatization, and
the Department of the Environment on water privatization and regulation. He
and I frequently discussed competition in electricity and gas in the 1980s and
he formally advised Offer, Ofgas and later Ofgem on these matters in the
1990s. He had previous interests and experience in regional planning and
competition policy. He was a consultant to companies as well as to
governments, in the USA and Australia as well as in the ...