Network Infrastructures

Rolf Künneke is Professor, Economics of Infrastructures, Delft University of Technology. He has a long research record on the restructuring of the energy sector. Claude Ménard is Professor of Economics, Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne, co-founder and past president of the International Society for New Institutional Economics (now SIOE) and a former co-editor of the Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization. John Groenewegen is Professor Emeritus, Delft University of Technology. He is past president of the Association for Evolutionary Economics (AFEE) and past general secretary of the European Association for Evolutionary Political Economy (EAEPE).

• Introduction. Lifting the veil; Part I. Conceptual Framework: 1. Network infrastructures – from coordination to alignment; 2. Institutional embeddedness – a conceptual challenge; 3. Technology in three dimensions – economics meets system engineering; 4. Bringing together two worlds apart; Part II. Empirical Explorations: 5. Structures – unravelling the energy transition; 6. Governance – a tale of a city's water and wastewater network; 7. Transactions – the many challenges self-driving vehicles face; 8. Taking stock, looking ahead.

'The exploration of the interface between technology and institutions is a vital but tricky project, spanning different academic disciplines. Too often we are told only one side of the story. This book is a shining exception. Its authors develop a rigorous theoretical framework that spans the two domains, which they usefully apply to real world cases. It is a major contribution to an important research programme.' Geoffrey Hodgson, Loughborough University