Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-4rdrl Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-01T03:52:10.007Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Franklin D. Roosevelt, Electric Utilities, and the Power of Competition

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2009

William M. Emmons III
William M. Emmons III
Affiliation:
Assistant Professor of Business Administration, Harvard University Graduate School of Business Administration, Boston, MA 02163.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Historical verdicts on the economic effects of Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal have been decidedly mixed. This article examines the New Deal's impact on the electric utility industry. In contrast to Roosevelt's cartel-like policies toward other sectors, his approach to the electric utilities involved the infusion of various forms of direct and indirect competition. Statistical evidence and econometric analysis suggest that Roosevelt's procompetitive strategy produced superior outcomes relative to traditional “natural monopoly” approaches to electric utility regulation.

Type
Articles
Information
The Journal of Economic History , Volume 53 , Issue 4 , December 1993 , pp. 880 - 907
Copyright
Copyright © The Economic History Association 1993

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Alchian, Armen A., “Corporate Management and Property Rights,” in Manne, H., ed., Economic Policy and the Regulation of Corporate Securities (Washington, DC, 1969), pp. 337–60.Google Scholar
Baum, Robert, The Federal Power Commission and State Utility Regulation (Washington, DC, 1942).Google Scholar
Bonbright Survey of Electric Power & Light Companies of the U.S. (New York, 1930).Google Scholar
Buchanan, Norman, “The Origin and Development of the Public Utility Holding Company,” Journal of Political Economy, 44 (02 1936), pp. 31–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Company Reports (various, 1930).Google Scholar
Courville, Léon, “Regulation and Efficiency in the Electric Utility Industry,” Bell Journal of Economics, 5 (Spring 1974), pp. 53–74.Google Scholar
Cowles Commission, Common-Stock Indexes (Bloomington, IN, 1939).Google Scholar
Cowan, Donald R. G. and Associates, Electric Public Utilities: A Great and Growing Market for Coal (Cleveland, 1949).Google Scholar
Economic Report of the President (Washington, DC, 1993).Google Scholar
Edison Electric Institute, Analysis of Fuel for Electric Generation by the Electric Utility Industry (New York, 1953).Google Scholar
Edison Electric Institute, Historical Statistics of the Electric Utility Industry through 1970 (New York, 1973).Google Scholar
Emmons, William M., “Private and Public Responses to Market Failure in the U.S. Electric Power Industry: 1882–1942” (Ph.D. diss., Harvard University, 1989).Google Scholar
Emmons, William M., “Implications of Ownership, Regulation, and Market Structure for Performance: Evidence from the U.S. Electric Utility Industry Before and After the New Deal” Working Paper HBS 93–009, Rev. 5/93, Harvard Business School (Boston, 1993).Google Scholar
Funigiello, Philip J., “A Political and Legislative History of the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935” (Ph.D. diss., New York University, 1966).Google Scholar
Funigiello, Philip J., Toward a National Power Policy (Pittsburgh, 1973).Google Scholar
Fusfeld, Daniel, The Economic Thought of Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Origins of the New Deal (New York, 1956).Google Scholar
Hausman, William J., and Neufeld, John L., “Property Rights versus Public Spirit: Ownership and Efficiency of U.S. Electric Utilities Prior to Rate-of-Return Regulation,” Review of Economics and Statistics, 73 (08 1991), pp. 414–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hellman, Richard, Government Competition in the Electric Utility Industry (New York, 1972).Google Scholar
Hirsh, Richard, Technology and Transformation in the American Electric Utility Industry (Cambridge, MA, 1989).Google Scholar
Hughes, Thomas P., Networks of Power: Electrification in Western Society, 1880–1930 (Baltimore, 1983).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Insull, Samuel, Public Control and Private Operation of Public Service Industries (Chicago, 1899).Google Scholar
Jarrell, Gregg, “The Demand for State Regulation of the Electric Utility Industry,” Journal of Law and Economics, 21 (10 1978), pp. 269–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, Herschel, “Integration of Electric Utilities in the United States” (Ph.D. diss., University of Wisconsin, 1942).Google Scholar
King, Clyde L., The Regulation of Municipal Utilities (New York, 1914).Google Scholar
Klingman, Herbert F., “The Physical Integration of Public Utility Holding Companies Since 1935” (Ph.D. diss., University of Wisconsin, 1949).Google Scholar
Leuchtenburg, William E., “Roosevelt, Norris, and the ‘Seven Little TV As,” Journal of Politics, 14 (08 1952), p. 418–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCraw, Thomas K., TVA and the Power Fight (Philadelphia, 1971).Google Scholar
McGraw-Hill Corporation, Central Station Directory (New York, 1930).Google Scholar
Moody's Corporation, Moody's Manual of Investments: American and Foreign Securities (New York, 1930–1935, 1941–1943).Google Scholar
Mosher, William E. et al. , Electrical Utilities: The Crisis in Public Control (New York, 1929).Google Scholar
National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, Annual Report on Utility and Carrier Regulation (Washington, DC, 1987).Google Scholar
National Electric Light Association, Statistical Supplement to the ‘Electric Light and Power Industry in the United States’ (New York, 1929).Google Scholar
National Electric Light Association, Political Ownership and the Electric Light and Power Industry (New York, 1930).Google Scholar
Neuberg, Leland G., “Two Issues in the Municipal Ownership of Electric Power Distribution Systems,” Bell Journal of Economics, 8 (Spring 1977), pp. 303–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peck, H. W., “An Inductive Study of Publicly Owned and Operated versus Privately Owned but Regulated Electric Utilities,” American Economic Review, 19 (Supplement, 1929), pp. 197–218.Google Scholar
Peltzman, Sam, “Pricing in Public and Private Enterprises: Electric Utilities in the United States,” Journal of Law and Economics, 14 (04 1971), pp. 109–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Primeaux, Walter, Direct Electric Utility Competition: The Natural Monopoly Myth (New York, 1985).Google Scholar
Ramsey, M. L., Pyramids of Power: The Story of Roosevelt, Insull, and the Utility Wars (Indianapolis, 1937).Google Scholar
Roosevelt, Franklin D., “How Will New York's Progressive Proposals Affect the Investor?” Public Utilities Fortnightly, 7 (06 25, 1931), pp. 810–12.Google Scholar
Roosevelt, Franklin D., The Public Papers and Addresses of Franklin D. Roosevelt (New York, 1938), vol. 1.Google Scholar
Schwartz, Charles F., and Graham, R. E. Jr, “Personal Income by States, 1929–54,” U.S. Department of Commerce, Survey of Current Business (09 1955), pp. 140–220.Google Scholar
Standard Statistics Company, Standard Trade and Securities (New York, 1938–1941).Google Scholar
Stigler, George, and Friedland, Claire, “What Can Regulators Regulate? The Case of Electricity,” Journal of Law and Economics, 5 (10 1962), pp. 1–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Twentieth Century Fund, Electric Power and Government Policy (New York, 1948).Google Scholar
U.S. Bureau of the Census, Statistical Abstract of the United States (Washington, DC, 1931, 1954).Google Scholar
U.S. Bureau of the Census, Census of Manufactures (Washington, DC, 1947).Google Scholar
U.S. Bureau of the Census, County and City Data Book (Washington, DC, 1949, 1956).Google Scholar
U.S. Bureau of the Census, Historical Statistics of the United States: Colonial Times to 1970 (Washington, DC, 1975).Google Scholar
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Residential Heating Fuels: Retail Prices 1941–48, Bulletin no. 950 (Washington, DC, 1949).Google Scholar
U.S. Federal Power Commission, Rate Series #5: Comparative Rates of Publicly and Privately Owned Electric Utilities, Part 2: Taxes, Cash Contributions, and “Free Services” (Washington, DC, 1936), pp. 31–40.Google Scholar
U.S. Federal Power Commission, Domestic and Residential Rates in Effect January 1, 1936 and Trends in Residential Rates 1924–36 (Washington, DC, 1937).Google Scholar
U.S. Federal Power Commission, Directory of Electric Generating Plants (Washington, DC, 1941).Google Scholar
U.S. Federal Power Commission, Typical Net Monthly Bills for Electric Service in Cities of 50,000 Population or More (Washington, DC, 1937–1942).Google Scholar
U.S. Federal Power Commission, Statistics of Privately-Owned Electric Utilities in the United States (Washington, DC, 1942).Google Scholar
U.S. Federal Power Commission, Statistics of Publicly-Owned Electric Utilities in the United States (Washington, DC, 1942).Google Scholar
U.S. Federal Trade Commission, Utility Corporations, 70th Cong., 1st sess., Senate Doc. 92 (Washington, DC, 1928–1935).Google Scholar
Wilcox, Delos, Municipal Franchises, vol. 1 (Rochester, NY, 1910).Google Scholar
Zentz, William, “The Economic Effects of Forced Geographic Integration of Electric Utility Holding Companies” (Ph.D. diss., University of Michigan, 1953).Google Scholar