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The ongoing financial crisis has exacerbated concerns about the need to redefine the role and characteristics of regulation. In the case of public services, deregulation was justified by the benefits that would accrue to consumers, though scant attention was paid to actual consumer experience in regulatory design. New European public services regulation policies argue that the citizens' perspective should be considered, with the aim of improving the functioning of the markets whilst protecting the general interest. The decisions and attitudes of Spanish citizens regarding two public services, electricity and telecommunications, are analysed. The novelty of this article is to contrast revealed and declared preferences, a method which has not yet been used in analysing public service use. The results show when and how socio-economic variables affect service use and satisfaction and the conclusions indicate how the results could be used to formulate better policies to address issues of social inclusiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What are the effects of emissions trading on a particular country? The efficiency and distribution effects associated with the implementation of the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) in Spain were modelled using a static general equilibrium model. Three scenarios were examined for cost-effectiveness and fairness: a real market as established by the National Allocation Plan (NAP); a wider (hypothetical) market applied to most sectors; and a (hypothetical) auctioned market. The actual and desirable regulatory impacts were also modelled. The results indicate that the narrow scope of the EU emissions trading market generates efficiency costs and relevant distributional effects, which may therefore be useful for the design and application of future Spanish policies and strategies to comply with short- and medium-term targets. Although the focus is on Spain, the understanding of different sectoral effects and the potential for complementary mechanisms provides a wider insight into the design of future mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]