Inflation and Public Utility Regulation.

The article reports on a study relating to U.S. inflation and public utility inflation in the 1950's. The study indicates that returns to utility stockholders have generally kept pace with inflation. Utility assets constitute 20% of the total assets of all non-financial corporations in the U.S. Total revenue of public utility companies in 1958 approximated 6.9% of the disposable personal income. Public utilities have consumed 40-50% of all new corporate security issues. Experts speculate that the enormous expansion of physical assets combined with the relatively small role of retained earnings creates a dependence on external capital.