In the Politcally Incorrect Guide to Capitalism, Robert Murphy states that public utilities are subsidized. How does one go about finding actual data on this?
Well, most of the time utilities are monopolies (state granted) so the prices are set by the ‘authorities’. That means that the price of the services will be lower than market prices, i. e. consumers will be subsidized, or the price will be higher, i. e. the owners/employees will be subsidized. Not sure if that’s what Murphy was talking about though. Also, when utilities lose money (by subsidizing their customers) they in turn need to be subsidized.