This timely volume examines the many challenges that the worldwide postal sector is facing as a result of growing electronic competition, and offers expert recommendations for reshaping postal structures to strengthen their competitiveness in an electronic age.

Contents: Preface 1. Privatization of Postal Operators: Old Arguments and New Realities Michael A. Crew and Paul R. Kleindorfer 2. The UK Postal Services Act 2011 Richard Eccles 3. A Gravity Model of International Postal Exchanges José Ansón and Matthias Helble 4. Price Comparisons in the Parcel Industry: A New Approach Based on the Hedonic Price Theory Claire Borsenberger, Sébastien Bréville and Aurélie Dehais 5. A New Governance Model for US Postal Services James I. Campbell Jr 6. Estimates of US Postal Price Elasticities of Demand Derived from a Random-Coefficients Discrete-Choice Normal Model Margaret M. Cigno, Elena S. Patel and Edward S. Pearsall 7. Segmentation and Nonlinear Pricing in the Postal Sector Claire Borsenberger, Helmuth Cremer, Philippe De Donder, Denis Joram and Sébastien Lécou 8. The Proposed Reform of EU Rules on Public Procurement: A Postal Sector Perspective Alessandra Fratini 9. Optimization of the United States Postal Retail Network by Applying GIS and Econometric Tools J.P. Klingenberg, Lyudmila Y. Bzhilyanskaya and Michael J. Ravnitzky 10. Estimating Long-run Incremental Costs in the Postal Sector: A UK Perspective Leonardo Mautino, Paul Dudley, James Prettyman and Fenella Heagney 11. Vulnerable Users in Times of Declining Demand: The Case of Basic Bank Services in Norway and Sweden Henrik B. Okholm and Anna Möller 12. Dynamic Letter Volume Models: How Does an Economic Downturn Affect Substitution Propensities? Vance L. Martin, Chris J. Paterson, Heikki Nikali and Qiubang Li 13. Electronic Substitution and USO Scope Definition Marcello Cuomo, Tommaso Nardone, Alberto Rovero and Gennaro Scarfiglieri 14. Letter Traffic Demand in the UK: Some New Evidence and Review of Econometric Analysis Over the Past Decade Marzena Jarosik, John Nankervis, Jonathan Pope, Soterios Soteri and Leticia Veruete-McKay 15. Status of the Postal Service Twenty Years After the Green Paper: A Franco–European Perspective Joëlle Toledano 16. Electronic Substitution and Postal Price Elasticities: A Customer Market Approach Leticia Veruete-McKay, Robert Sheldon, Peter Burge and Alison Lawrence 17. Measuring Consumer Preferences for Postal Services Charlene Rohr, Urs Trinkner, Alison Lawrence, Chong Woo Kim, Dimitris Potoglou and Robert Sheldon 18. Efficiency Analysis Postal Operators: Comparison between the United States and Europe Maria Rita Pierleoni and Stefano Gori 19. Termination Charges in the International Parcel Market Andreas Haller, Christian Jaag and Urs Trinkner 20. Competition and the Social Cost of Regulation in the Postal Sector Martin Maegli and Christian Jaag 21. Measuring the Environmental Benefit of Reducing the United States Postal Service’s Operations Norma B. Nieto and Adam C. Houck 22. Economic Regulation and the UK Postal Sector, 2000–2011 Tim Walsh 23. What’s Past is Prologue: Understanding Developments in North American Postal Markets Michael D. Bradley, Jeff Colvin and Mary K. Perkins 24. Human Capital and Diversification Choices for Postal Operators Dominique Bailly and Margaux Meidinger 25. Welfare and Pricing with Single-piece and Bulk Mail Access Competition in the Postal Sector Philippe De Donder, Helmuth Cremer, Paul Dudley and Frank Rodriguez 26. The Postal Economy in the UK and Rutgers CRRI Conferences since 1990: A Review of Developments and Economic Themes Frank Rodriguez 27. Social Media Challenges the Entire Postal Industry Kari Elkelä and Heikki Nikali

‘Professors Crew and Kleindorfer have once again assembled a valuable collection of essays that address timely and important issues in postal sectors throughout the world. The essays employ diverse methodologies to provide useful insights about recent and likely future developments in the postal industry. This book will be a valuable resource for researchers, industry practitioners, and policymakers alike.’