The European natural gas market reforms revisited

• Verfasst von: Herweg, Nicole [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Wurster, Stefan [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Dümig, Kathrin [VerfasserIn]
• Titel: The European natural gas market reforms revisited
• Titelzusatz: differentiating between regulatory output and outcome
• Verf.angabe: Nicole Herweg, Stefan Wurster, and Kathrin Dümig
• E-Jahr: 2018
• Jahr: 4 April 2018
• Umfang: 19 S.
• Teil: volume:7
• Teil: year:2018
• Teil: number:4
• Teil: pages:1-19
• Teil: extent:19
• Fussnoten: Gesehen am 20.09.2018
• Titel Quelle: Enthalten in: Social Sciences
• Ort Quelle: Basel : MDPI, 2012
• Jahr Quelle: 2018
• Band/Heft Quelle: 7(2018,4) Artikel-Nummer 57, 19 Seiten
• ISSN Quelle: 2076-0760
• DOI: doi:10.3390/socsci7040057
• Datenträger: Online-Ressource
• Sprache: eng
• Sach-SW: energy policy
• Sach-SW: European public policy
• Sach-SW: gas prices
• K10plus-PPN: 1581135386

Abstract

The article addresses the question of how successful the European natural gas reforms of 1998, 2003, and 2009 have been in terms of increasing competition in the sector. We argue that regulatory provisions are policy output variables, which as such do not affect competition directly. However, successful reforms can have an impact on the market structure, which might lead to increased competition and price reductions. Thus, it is pivotal to differentiate between policy output and outcome variables. Therefore, we first conduct a cross-sectional analysis of the regulatory impact on the market structure. Second, we apply error-correction models to test whether changes in the market structure affected the price development. Our findings suggest that the market reforms were successful in terms of liberalizing the sector, whereas the market structure did not affect the natural gas prices. Thus, we see a “successful failure” of the European natural gas market reforms.