A program studying the effects of government regulations on industry and government performance in its delivery of regu- latory services will continue at the School of Management (SOM), thanks to a $522,616 grant from the John M. Olin Foundation.
This is the second sizeable grant awarded by the Olin Foundation to the SOM program, titled the John M. Olin Research Program for the Study of Markets and Regulatory Behavior. Established in 1994, the program is directed by Paul W. MacAvoy, the Williams Brothers Professor of Management Studies and a leading expert in privatization, regulation and corporate strategy.
In the first, three-year phase of the program, five SOM professors and 39 students produced books, articles and other works on such topics as regulation of gas transmission; management of environmental control systems; privatization of the postal service; management of health care regulatory systems; public policy toward more effective corporate governance; and the regulation of telecommunications distribution networks.
Over the next three years, SOM re-searchers will focus on such issues as the decontrol of the transportation and distribution of natural gas; restructuring and decontrol of electricity production; privatization of federal government activities that produce services in place of investor-owned corporations; and the potential of the modern corporation as a vehicle for growth and efficiency in the American economy. The Olin Research Program will also support the study of the Federal Communications Commission and the establishment of open, deregulated markets for telecommunications services. These projects will be discussed in conferences and seminars at Yale and elsewhere over the next few years.
SOM Dean Jeffrey E. Garten said that the Olin Foundation and Professor Mac-Avoy have "facilitated the school's faculty in disseminating important work concerning the ongoing public debate on government regulation of business in the American economy."
Other SOM faculty currently involved in research as part of the John M. Olin Research Program for the Study of Markets and Regulatory Behavior are Sharon M. Oster, the Frederic D. Wolfe Professor of Management and Entrepreneurship; and Ira M. Millstein, the Eugene F. Williams Jr. Visiting Professor in Competitive Enterprise and Strategy. Mr. Millstein is also senior partner in the New York City law firm of Weil, Gotshal & Manges.