The unique challenges associated with understanding network industries requires insights from a range of disciplinary perspectives, namely economics, engineering, law, and political science. This book analyzes the de- and re-regulation of the network industries and the regulatory challenges these industries will face in the future.

Network industries are characterised by economics that entail limiting effects on competition and market creation, and the book highlights the drivers behind their liberalization as well as the inherent need for regulation as liberalization unfolds. By way of an historical approach, the author offers insights into the distinctive approaches between Europe and North America in the past whilst also presenting the pervasive role digitalization increasingly comes to play.

A concise overview of the state of thinking about the network industries, this book will be vital reading for researchers, advanced students and practitioners.

'The important roles networks play in economics, politics, business, sociology, and virtually everything humans engage in has become increasingly recognized, but we really understand little of the detail of individual networks, let alone their dynamics and interactions. This short book fills a major gap by providing a very carefully thought through and clear introduction to what we do know about network industries, essentially those activities that allow us to move, to transport goods, and to communicate.' -- Kenneth Button, George Mason University, USA

'Drawing on both interdisciplinary theory and contemporary practice, Professor Finger offers an essential, insightful, and comprehensive treatment of network and utility industries – including their comparative historical development and relationship to the regulatory state as well as the institutional implications of today's transformative technologies.' -- Janice Beecher, Michigan State University, USA

Matthias Finger is Swiss Post Chair in Management of Network Industries at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, Switzerland.