Nationalization is the acquisition of private companies by the public sector.

Privatization is the return of state enterprises to private ownership and control.

A natural monopoly’s average costs keep falling as its output rises. It undercuts all smaller competitors.

A two-part tariff charges a fixed sum for access to the service and then a price per unit that reflects the marginal cost of production.

Regulatory capture implies that the regulator gradually comes to identify with the interests of the firm it regulates, becoming its champion not its watchdog.

The discount rate is the interest rate used to calculate present values of future streams of benefits or costs.

Peak-load pricing is price discrimination to charge peak-time users extra because of the higher marginal cost of supplying them.