Guest Editorial

The set of five papers included in this Transactions originally were presented at the Workshop on the Economies of Scale in Today´s Communications Systems (held in Washington, DC, USA, on September 13, 1973) was motivated by the need for knowledge to be applied to a variety of public policy questions which are now facing decision makers. This is the first time that this subject has been discussed in a public forum at this depth and breadth. The papers were planned to explore the present ??state of knowledge of the economies of scale and closely related subjects in telecommunications economics and to add to this knowledge or at least to guide in the search for it. Since this set of papers do represent a first we make no apologies about the obvious gaps that we find existing in our state of knowledge, since we feel it fairly represents reality. It is hoped, however, that the set of papers will be useful both to policy makers and to policy researchers who must make decisions with the existing state of knowledge. Because policy issues are almost, by definition, controversial, the editor has sought to secure a balance in several ways to avoid undue bias and to provide writers of diverse backgrounds and points of view. There is a balance in the papers between economic theory and practice. There is also a balance between the statistical and the analytical approach to the design of production cost functions. There is also a balance among interest groups: the university, the independent consulting firm, the government, the new specialized common carriers, and the existing common carriers; all are represented, and have been invited to present their own viewpoints, as well as to make their contributions to knowledge.