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...

What are the benefits of price discrimination to UK railway passengers?     Price discrimination is where the same service is sold at different prices to the same or different consumers. It is divided into first-, second-, or third-degree discrimination.   For price discrimination to work, companies must have knowledge of demand, the ability to stop purchasers re-selling items or services at cheap prices to others, and the company should have market power to be able to set prices. Ideally, they should also be able to stop customer comparing prices and informing each other of significant differences.     In first degree discrimination, the price is tailored to the customer and their elasticity. All consumer surplus is captured. Such a system involves charging whatever a particular consumer can pay for a seat and is built into the way in which seats become more expensive the nearer to the time of travel a consumer seeks to purchase them. For railway comp...

  There are several challenges here. One is that a general consensus has arisen that a reduction in the carbon waste which enters the atmosphere from traditional forms of power generation is necessary to slow or reduce dangerous climate change. This means a move from an economy based around the generation of power from coal, oil, and to an extent gas, and towards one based upon renewable, abundant, and satisfactory replacements.   The challenge is that hydrocarbon power is a really efficient and effective form of power for electricity grids, cars, aeroplanes, heating, and factories. It is also globally used by competitor economies. Switching from it might therefore limit the capacity of economies, create advantages for competitors, lower living standards, and reduce the amount of investment capital available for the development of renewable resources. A second challenge is that the renewables sector is one covering a great many things. Some of these things, whilst improvin...