Dept of Economics at Oxford University

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        Simon Cowan's Home Page                       

University Lecturer in Economics, Department of Economics

Wigmore Fellow in Tutor in Economics, Worcester College, Oxford. Vice-Provost, Worcester College.

Research Interests: My research in industrial organization covers: (i) the welfare effects of monopoly pricing, including the welfare effects of third-degree price discrimination and the characterization of the social costs of monopoly power using the curvature of the demand function; and (ii) the consequences of volatile demand and cost conditions for the design of pricing policies for regulated industries. I have additional interests in the welfare economics of metering policies and entry effects in differentiated products industries. I am also interested in environmental economics and in the theory of strategic trade policy.

Current working papers

  1. Third-Degree Price Discrimination and Consumer Surplus Department of Economics Discussion Paper 462, November 2009
  2. When does third-degree price discrimination reduce social welfare, and when does it raise it? Department of Economics Discussion Paper 410, October 2008
  3. Output and Welfare Effects in the Classic Monopoly Price Discrimination Problem (with John Vickers) Department of Economics Discussion Paper 355, September 2007

 

Publications

Book Regulatory Reform: Economic Analysis and British Experience, with Mark Armstrong and John Vickers, 1994, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Articles in refereed journals

1.      "Monopoly Price Discrimination and Demand Curvature", with Iñaki Aguirre and John Vickers, American Economic Review, forthcoming (pdf version).

2.      “The welfare economics of optional water metering”, Economic Journal, forthcoming.

3.      “Competition can harm consumers”, with Xiangkang Yin, Australian Economic Papers, 47, 264-271, 2008. http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/, pdf version.

4.      “The welfare effects of third-degree price discrimination with non-linear demand functions”, RAND Journal of Economics, Vol 38-2, 419-428, 2007, pdf version

5.      “Network Regulation”, Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 22: 248-259, 2006. http://oxrep.oxfordjournals.org/

6.      “Competition in Regulated Industries: Some Reflections”, Agenda, 12(4), 351-362, 2005. http://agenda.anu.edu.au/

7.      “Utility regulation and risk allocation: The roles of marginal cost pricing and futures markets”, Journal of Regulatory Economics, 26(1), 23-40, 2004. http://www.springerlink.com/content/

8.      “Optimal risk allocation for regulated monopolies and consumers”, Journal of Public Economics, 88:1-2, 285-303, January 2004. http://www.sciencedirect.com/

9.      “Price Cap Regulation”, Swedish Review of Economic Policy, 9(2), pp. 167-188, Fall 2002. http://www.ekonomiskaradet.se/

10.  “Trade, Technology and Growth: an introduction”, with P. Sinclair, Oxford Economic Papers, 51, pp. 1-3, 1999. http://oep.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/51/1/1

11.  “The Use of Economic Instruments to Regulate Water Pollution and Abstraction”, Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 14(4), pp.40-49, Winter 1998. http://oxrep.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/14/4/40

12.  “Oxford Economic Papers: 50 and 60 years – a double anniversary”, with M. Slater, Oxford Economic Papers, 50, pp. 531-533, 1998. http://oep.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/50/4/531

13.  “Welfare Consequences of Tight Price-Cap Regulation”, Bulletin of Economic Research, 50(2), pp. 105-116, 1998. http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/toc/boer/50/2

14.  “Price-Cap Regulation and Inefficiency in Relative Pricing”, Journal of Regulatory Economics, 12(1), pp. 53-70, 1997. http://www.springerlink.com/content/

15.  “Competition in the Water Industry”, Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 13(1), pp. 83-92, 1997. http://oxrep.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/13/1/83

16.  “Tight Average Revenue Regulation Can Be Worse than No Regulation”, Journal of Industrial Economics, 45, pp. 75-88, 1997. http://uk.jstor.org/

17.  “Nonlinear Pricing and Price Cap Regulation”, with Mark Armstrong and John Vickers, Journal of Public Economics, 58, 1, pp. 33-55, 1995. http://www.sciencedirect.com/

18.  “Regulation of Several Market Failures: The Water Industry in England and Wales”, Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Vol 9, No 4, pp. 14-23, 1993. http://oxrep.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/9/4/14

19.  “Trade and Competition Policies for Oligopolies”, Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv, Vol 125, pp. 464-483, 1989.

 

Chapters in books and articles in non-refereed journals

1.      “Quantitative Techniques for Competition Policy Analysis”, The Utilities Journal, pp. 42-43, Volume 6, May 2003.

2.      “Developments in Regulatory Principles: The UK Experience”, Chapter 2 in Henry, C., M. Matheu and A. Jeunemaître, eds., Regulation of Network Utilities: The European Experience, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp.39-53, 2001.  http://www.oup.co.uk/pdf/0-19-924415-4.pdf

3.      “Water Pollution, Water Abstraction and Economic Instruments”, Chapter 9 in D. Helm and T. Jenkinson, eds. Environmental Policy: Objectives, Instruments and Implementation. Oxford, Oxford University Press, pp. 203-215, 2000.

4.      “Reforming Urban Water Systems in Developing Countries”, jointly with R. Noll and M. Shirley, in A.O. Krueger, ed., Economic Policy Reform: The Second Stage, University of Chicago Press, pp. 243-291, 2000.

5.      “The Water Industry”, in D. Helm and T. Jenkinson, eds., Competition in Regulated Industries, Oxford, OUP, pp. 160-174, 1998.

6.      “Market and Regulatory Failure in the Water Sector” in U. Collier, ed., Deregulation in the European Union: Environmental Perspectives, London, Routledge, pp. 131-144, 1998.

7.      “Privatization and Regulation of the Water Industry in England and Wales”, in M. Bishop, J. Kay and C. Mayer, eds. Privatization and Economic Performance, Oxford, Oxford University Press, pp. 112-136, 1994.

8.      “Social Obligations and the Utilities”, Utility Finance, pp. 13-14, June 1994.

 

Teaching

I teach Second Year Microeconomics, Quantitative Economics, the option courses in Economics of Industry (my reading list in Word and pdf) and International Economics (my reading list Word and pdf). For the MPhil in Economics I teach part of the option paper on the Economics of Industry.

Doctoral Supervision

Gian Carlo Scarsi, "Electricity Distribution in Italy: Microeconomic Efficiency Analysis of Local Distributing Units with Methodological Cross-Checking", 1996-98

Paul Reeve, "An Economic Analysis of Bus Competition", 1998-

Swee Teen Chua, "Capital Mobility, Trade, Growth and the Environment", 1998-2000

Martin Rossi, "Essays in Applied Regulatory Economics", 2002-2004

Lindsay Tuthill, "Emissions Policy and the US Electricity Generating Industry: Capital Investment, Fuel Use and Cost Efficiency", 2004-2008.

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