Paolo Beria is a Professor of Transport Economics from the Polytechnic University of Milan, with an array of applied interests in the fields of transport economics, appraisal, regulation, geography and the evolution of markets. He’s much more than that too. His work reveals the interplay and complexity embedded in regulating transport infrastructure and services, but also the political decisions that may influence practice overtime. From reading much of his material, his collaborative spirit shows an interest in how transport issues change over time, and assessing the impact of past, present and future decisions. In times of crisis or prosperity, transport economic regulation responds and reflects the time. He is a transport enthusiast, having written and published an Italian transport atlas, titled  l’Atlante dei Trasporti Italiani, rendering him a valuable asset in the Italian transport industry. Our discussion starts with an audio clip from Jean-Jacque Laffont’s lecture, who before his passing, presented the initial workings about the role of economic regulation in development, for developing countries in particular. I read an extract from the book, ‘Regulation and Development‘ linked below, and we discuss the economic regulatory dynamics in Europe, national carriers, deregulation, liberalisation and other themes. All in an attempt to capture the complexity of some of the issues in introducing a practice that is unattractive but quite valuable to fair distribution.

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