Postal Strategies in a Digital and Green Transition: Universal Service, Challenges and Innovations

This volume presents original essays by leading researchers and practitioners in postal and delivery economics, drawn from the 32nd Conference on Postal and Delivery Economics, held in Berne (Switzerland), on 29-31 May 2024. The book explores the evolving dynamics of the postal and delivery sector in a rapidly changing digital and environmental landscape, offering insights into regulatory challenges, technological advancements, financial sustainability, competition, and policy innovation.

Building upon previous editions, this book continues to reflect the convergence of economic, technological, and regulatory transformations shaping the industry. It critically examines the future of postal services by addressing issues such as the evolution of the universal service obligations (USO) in the face of digital communication and parcel growth; the role of new pricing models, financial reforms, and regulatory frameworks in the sustainability of the sector; leveraging digital innovation and green transitions for improved efficiency, competition, and environmental performance; analytical and methodological approaches for optimizing postal networks and policy decisions.

As such, this book will be useful for graduate students and professors interested in postal and regulatory economics as well as postal administrations, consulting firms, and federal government departments.

Timothy J. Brennan is Professor Emeritus in the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (US). He has published over 135 articles and book chapters, principally on antitrust and regulatory economics, including the electricity, telecommunications, postal, oil pipeline, and other infrastructure sectors. His current research focuses on competition policy, particularly vertical integration and structuring abuse of dominance cases, and on regulatory pricing and methods. He also has a strong interest in the nexus between economics and philosophy, which he has applied to questions such as the ethical underpinnings of climate policy.

Victor Glass is Professor of Professional Practice in the Finance and Economics Department at Rutgers Business School (US). He is also Director of the Center for Research in Regulated Industries (CRRI). For almost thirty years, he was responsible for forecasting demand and setting access rates for more than 1,100 telephone companies and was heavily involved in regulatory reform. He has published studies on market and regulatory issues that have appeared in academic journals and trade magazines.

Anna Renata Pisarkiewicz is a Research Fellow at the Centre for a Digital Society at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies (European University Institute). She has over 10 years of experience in research and 4 years of experience in policy analysis in the area of competition law and sector-specific regulation. Her research interests encompass the areas of comparative competition law and policy across all sectors as well as economic regulation of network industries, in particular electronic communications.

Leonardo Mazzoni is a Research Associate at the Centre for a Digital Society at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies (European University Institute). His research interests deal with Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Digital Transformation. He is co-author of national and international publications of recognized interest (among others Small Business Economics, Regional Studies, Industry and Innovation, Technology Analysis and Strategic Management, EPJ Data Science and International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal).