Full Description
The book addresses the most recent challenges faced by the postal and delivery sector. This book includes original essays by prominent researchers and practitioners in the field of postal and delivery economics, originally presented at the 28th Conference on Postal and Delivery Economics held online, December 1-5, 2020. Chapters discuss topics such as the sustainability of the universal service obligations (USO) quality of service, last mile solutions, competition in liberalized markets, data protection, environmental sustainability, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. This book will be a useful tool not only for graduate students and professors interested in postal and regulatory economics, but also for postal administrations, consulting firms, and federal government departments.
Contents
Chapter 1. Competition in the Postal and Delivery Markets in Europe.- Chapter 2. The Game Theory of Cartels in the Postal Industry.- Chapter 3. When a price cost test is unnecessary for assessing pricing abuses - the Royal Mail case.- Chapter 4. Data and the regulation of e-commerce: data sharing vs. dismantling.- Chapter 5. An Assessment of USPS' Negotiated Service Agreements and Platforms' Direct Entry in Delivery.- Chapter 6. Least-Cost Parcel Delivery Methods in a Flexible Delivery Environment.- Chapter 7. Assessing Diversification in the Postal Sector.- Chapter 8. The Historical Contribution of Postal Service to Social Welfare in the United States.- Chapter 9. The risks of customer data processing under the GDPR: the Austria Post case.- Chapter 10. The Universal Postal Union. Quo Vadis.- Chapter 11. The legal definition of the postal service. Do we need to redefine the scope of postal regulation?.- Chapter 12. The futureof Services of General Economic Interest in the postal industry.- Chapter 13. Sustaining the USO: Toward a Case for Adapting Reserved Area Parameters in the Digital Age.- Chapter 14. Neither the Carrot nor the Stick. How to ensure adequacy of traditional postal operators' funding in a rapidly transforming market.- Chapter 15. Has the Covid pandemic accelerated the rate of decline in business letters? Some early and preliminary analysis and thoughts.- Chapter 16. What is unfair? Assessing the unfairness of the universal postal service obligation.- Chapter 17. Net costs of USP's service provision: challenges for the coming decade.- Chapter 18. The climate challenge: what role postal operators are going to and could lay to mitigate it?.- Chapter 19. The role of postal operators in the circular economy.
