EconomicsNotes

    The railways were nationalised in 1948, in a state of collapse. They were then built up as an integrated system until the 1960s, when the Beeching reforms attempted to transform them into an intercity service, and a freight service (aided by the questionable and possibly corrupt expansion of the motorways by a motorway construction executive who was also Minister of Transport, Ernest Marples, between 1959 and 1964.) This involved closing lots of small lines and network points. The service did prosper, and invested in advanced passenger trains, but was starved of funds by government during the stagflationary episode of 1973-1983. It was then privatised in 1992. A nationalised or integrated railway has positive externalities in terms of geographical mobility, though these have only recently become apparent. In the 1980s, consumers were still discovering the car, which became a more flexible and personal substitute, especially as the expansion of finance allowed more people...

  Energy prices are a basic cost. They are semi-variable for most businesses, in that a basic fixed cost of energy is generated by the need to heat or to cool buildings, and to carry out operations. In addition, a marginal cost exists for producers in terms of the energy required to increase production. Finally, energy costs are also built into the transport of raw materials, and the distribution of finished goods and services, which again contribute to marginal costs. If global energy prices are rising wholesale, it is unlikely that businesses or individuals will be able to lower the retail cost of energy by switching between suppliers. Energy storage is expensive and encourages economies of scale and oligopolies, in which consumer choice is limited at times of higher wholesale prices. When energy prices are low, smaller companies can purchase wholesale and make money at the margin undercutting bigger companies as storage costs will be a burden for the latter and the small compa...