| Titre | Le régulateur, le service public, le marché et la firme | |
|---|---|---|
| Auteur | Dominique Lorrain | |
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Revue | Flux |
| Numéro | no 31-32, janvier-juin 1998 | |
| Page | 13-24 | |
| Résumé anglais |
This article serves to highlight a transformation taking place within urban utility services, with respect both to their internal properties (technological aspects) and their environment as a whole. It starts out with a discussion of two trends which are currently perceived in France as threats to the provision of public services : the appearance of new forms of poverty, and the Europe-wide liberalism being practiced by Brussels. With respect to each of these two discussion topics, the arguments presented herein lead to an assessment that remains somewhat mixed. While new forms of poverty are indeed being encountered, and in particular the « working poor », the current situation has in no way reached the point of social exclusion. Differences do exist between the « French notion » of public services and the notion of universal service, yet these differences could not be qualified as radical. Europe, on the whole, shares the same vision of public service activities, as being distinct from market-related activities. The article then turns to examining current regulatory efforts and exposes a newly-discovered problem. While the public authority is perfectly capable of defining the ground rules - a framework, a set of standards to be respected - it struggles when exercising the role of firm regulator by virtue of its inherent tendency to remain in motion and thus to blur the controls in place. Here lies the basis for a new field of investigation should the firm continue as a pivotal actor in the economics of urban utility services. Source : Éditeur (via Persée) |
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| Article en ligne | http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/flux_1154-2721_1998_num_14_31_1218 |
