Download or read book Argentina 1990s Utilities Privatization written by Antonio Estache and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Until the reforms in the early 1990s, Argentina's public services were sick. Rationing in level and quality were the norm. Privatization, among the many reforms introduced by the Menem administration, felt then as a cure. Argentina was the 'poster boy' of privatization in the world. For the last 2-3 of years, however, Argentineans like many other South Americans, have begun to grow unhappy with the privatization strategy. The population is now focusing on its shrinking ability to pay resulting from an extended period of unemployment - over 4 years of recession - and long for the days of highly subsidized public service tariffs. Most have already forgotten the pre-restructuring frequent days without power or water and the 8 years waiting periods to get a phone line. To many, privatization increasingly looks like a virus rather than a cure. It is one of the changes brought with the liberal reforms of the 1990s and it must hence be bad. The deteriorating image is symptomatic of a very emotional and dogmatic debate on the good and the bad of reforms. Much of the criticisms covered by the media is based on anecdotes and widely publicized incidents, with very little reference to more rigorous analytical studies. The main purpose of this paper is to provide some more analytical support on the actual effects of privatization on utilities. To do so, I survey the analytical evidence on the health of the sector, identifying gains and losses and winners and losers of the privatization strategy. To conduct the assessment, I look at the performance of the utilities sector with the tools of a regulator and try to find obvious reasons in that performance that could explain the increasingly vocal criticisms of privatization.

Download or read book Winners and Losers from Utility Privatization in Argentina written by Omar O. Chisari and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 1997 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Winners and Losers from Utility Privatization in Argentina Lessons from a General Equilibrium Model written by Antonio Estache and published by . This book was released on 1999 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: September 1997 The economic rates of return for utility privatization projects in Argentina are very high, whether or not distributional weights are considered. But there is a very high shadow price for regulatory activity, which tends to be ignored in most privatization exercises. And how serious a government is about the fair distribution of gains from reform is reflected in how serious it is about regulation. Chisari, Estache, and Romero assess the macroeconomic and distributional effects of the privatization that Argentina began in 1989 in gas, electricity, telecommunications, and water and sanitation. Using a computable general equilibrium model, they track the effects of the changes observed between 1993, the first year by which all the major privatizations had taken place, and 1995, the most recent year for which data are available. In an innovative use of the model, they also assess the importance of the regulator in determining the distribution of gains and losses from utility privatization among sectors and income groups. They conclude that when regulators are effective, the annual gains from the private operation of utilities are about $3.3 billion, or 1.25 percent of GDP, and that all income classes benefit. Ineffective regulation cuts the gains from the reform by $1 billion or 0.35 percent of GDP. This cut in gains represents an implicit tax of 16 percent on the average consumer, paid directly to the owner of the utility rather than to the government. For the poorest income classes, this implicit tax is about 20 percent, meaning that good regulation is in the interest of the poor. The authors also show that the privatization of utilities cannot be blamed for the significant increase in unemployment observed in Argentina since 1993. Effective regulation can lead to a decline in unemployment, and ineffective regulation leads to only a small increase in unemployment. But the gains from utility privatization were not sufficient to offset the negative efficiency and distributional impact on the economy of the Tequila effect, which increased unemployment dramatically by limiting access to credit for users and producers alike. This paper-a product of the Regulatory Reform and Private Enterprise Division, Economic Development Institute-is part of a larger effort in the institute to understand the importance of effective infrastructure regulation. The study was funded by the Bank's Research Support Budget under the research project Efficiency and Equity Implications of Argentina's Privatization of Infrastructure Services (RPO 680-85).

Download or read book Universal Service Obligations in Utility Concession Contracts and the Needs of the Poor in Argentina s Privatizations written by Omar O. Chisari and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 1999 with total page 32 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The structural changes that come with privatization may induce a reconsideration of the regulations defined during the early stages of privatization"--Cover.

Download or read book The Reform of the Utilities Sector in Argentina written by José A. Delfino and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 34 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Realty Versus Propaganda in the Formation of Beliefs about Privatization written by Rafael Di Tella and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 35 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Argentina privatized most public utilities during the 1990's but re-nationalized the main water company in 2006. We study beliefs about the benefits of the privatization of water services amongst low and middle income groups immediately after the 2006 nationalization. Negative opinions about the privatization prevail. These are particularly strong amongst households that did not benefit from the privatization and amongst households that were reminded of the government's negative views about the privatization. A person's beliefs of the benefits of the water privatization were almost 30% more negative (relative to other privatizations) if his/her household did not gain access to water after the privatization. Similarly, a person's view of the water privatization (relative to other privatizations) was 16% more negative if he/she was read a vignette with some of the negative statements about the water privatization that Argentina's President expressed during the nationalization process. Interestingly, the effect of the vignette on households that gained water is insignificant, while it is largest (and significant) amongst households that did not gain water during the privatization. This suggests that propaganda was persuasive when it had a basis on reality.

Download or read book Reality Versus Propaganda in the Formation of Beliefs About Privatization written by Rafael Di Tella and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 37 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Argentina privatized most public utilities during the 1990's but re-nationalized the main water company in 2006. We study beliefs about the benefits of the privatization of water services amongst low and middle income groups immediately after the 2006 nationalization. Negative opinions about the privatization prevail. These are particularly strong amongst households that did not benefit from the privatization and amongst households that were reminded of the government's negative views about the privatization. A person's beliefs of the benefits of the water privatization were almost 30% more negative (relative to other privatizations) if his/her household did not gain access to water after the privatization. Similarly, a person's view of the water privatization (relative to other privatizations) was 16% more negative if he/she was read a vignette with some of the negative statements about the water privatization that Argentina's President expressed during the nationalization process. Interestingly, the effect of the vignette on households that gained water is insignificant, while it is largest (and significant) amongst households that did not gain water during the privatization. This suggests that propaganda was persuasive when it had a basis on reality.

Download or read book Infrastructure and Public Utilities Privatization in Developing Countries written by Emmanuelle Auriol and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on with total page 42 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The paper analyzes governments' tradeoff between fiscal benefits and consumer surplus in privatization reforms of noncompetitive industries in developing countries. Under privatization, the control rights are transferred to private interests so that public subsidies decline. This benefit for tax-payers comes at the cost of price increases for consumers. In developing countries, tight budget constraints imply that privatization may be optimal for low profitability segments. For highly profitable public utilities, the combination of allocative inefficiency and critical budgetary conditions may favor public ownership. Finally, once a market segment gives room for more than one firm, governments prefer to regulate the industry. In the absence of a credible regulatory agency, regulation is achieved through public ownership.

Download or read book Privatization and Regulation written by Luigi Manzetti and published by . This book was released on 1997 with total page 28 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book A Report on Privatization and Regulation of Utilities in Argentina written by Universidad Argentina de la Empresa. Instituto de Economía and published by . This book was released on 1997 with total page 29 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Informa sobre el programa de privatización y regulación llevado a cabo en las empresas estatales orientadas al sector de servicios; recursos naturales, etc. Examina el contexto macroeconómico, desempleo y crecimiento; sus resultados financieros.

Download or read book Privatization of Public Enterprises and Services in Argentina written by Argentina Ministerio de Economía y Obras y Servicios Públicos and published by . This book was released on with total page 26 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Privatization as a Component of the Economic Reform in Argentina During the 1990 s written by Malvina Estela Franco and published by . This book was released on 1995 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Buenos Aires Water Concession written by Lorena Alcázar and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 65 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Transparent, rule-based decisionmaking is important to maintaining public trust in regulated infrastructure. The Buenos Aires water and sanitation concession led to remarkable improvements in delivery and coverage of services and to lower prices for consumers. But a poor information base, lack of transparency in regulatory decisions, and the ad hoc nature of executive branch interventions make it difficult to reassure consumers that their welfare is being protected and that the concession is sustainable.The signing of a concession contract for the Buenos Aires water and sanitation system in December 1992 attracted worldwide attention and caused considerable controversy in Argentina. It was one of the world's largest concessions, but the case was also interesting for other reasons. The concession was implemented rapidly, in contrast with slow implementation of privatization in Santiago, for example. And reform generated major improvements in the sector, including wider coverage, better service, more efficient company operations, and reduced waste. Moreover, the winning bid brought an immediate 26.9 percent reduction in water system tariffs.Consumers benefited from the system's expansion and from the immediate drop in real prices, which was only partly reversed by subsequent changes in tariffs and access charges. And these improvements would probably not have occurred under public administration of the system. Still, as Alcazar, Abdala, and Shirley show, information asymmetries, perverse incentives, and weak regulatory institutions could threaten the concession's sustainability. Opportunities for the company to act opportunistically - and the regulator, arbitrarily - exist because of politicized regulation, a poor information base, serious flaws in the concession contract, a lumpy and ad hoc tariff system, and a general lack of transparency in the regulatory process. Because of these circumstances, public confidence in the process has eroded. The Buenos Aires concession shows how important transparent, rule-based decisionmaking is to maintaining public trust in regulated infrastructure.This paper - a product of Regulation and Competition Policy, Development Research Group - is part of a larger effort in the group to analyze institutional issues in regulated infrastructure. The study was funded by the Bank`s Research Support Budget under the research project Institutions, Politics, and Contracts: Private Sector Participation in Urban Water Supply (RPO 681-87).

Download or read book Reforming Infrastructure written by Ioannis Nicolaos Kessides and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2004 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Electricity, natural gas, telecommunications, railways, and water supply, are often vertically and horizontally integrated state monopolies. This results in weak services, especially in developing and transition economies, and for poor people. Common problems include low productivity, high costs, bad quality, insufficient revenue, and investment shortfalls. Many countries over the past two decades have restructured, privatized and regulated their infrastructure. This report identifies the challenges involved in this massive policy redirection. It also assesses the outcomes of these changes, as well as their distributional consequences for poor households and other disadvantaged groups. It recommends directions for future reforms and research to improve infrastructure performance, identifying pricing policies that strike a balance between economic efficiency and social equity, suggesting rules governing access to bottleneck infrastructure facilities, and proposing ways to increase poor people's access to these crucial services.

Download or read book Private Participation in Infrastructure in Developing Countries written by Clive Harris and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2003 with total page 60 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Governments have long recognized the vital role that modern infrastructure services play in economic growth and poverty alleviation. For much of the post-Second World War period, most governments entrusted delivery of these services to state-owned monopolies. But in many developing countries, the results were disappointing. Public sector monopolies were plagued by inefficiency. Many were strapped for resources because governments succumbed to populist pressures to hold prices below costs. Fiscal pressures, and the success of the pioneers of the privatization of infrastructure services, provided governments with a new paradigm. Many governments sought to involve the private sector in the provision and financing of infrastructure services. The shift to the private provision that occurred during the 1990s was much more rapid and widespread than had been anticipated at the start of the decade. By 2001, developing countries had seen over $755 billion of investment flows in nearly 2500 infrastructure projects. However, these flows peaked in 1997, and have fallen more or less steadily ever since. These declines have been accompanied by high profile cancellations or renegotiations of some projects, a reduction in investor appetite for these activities and, in some parts of the world, a shift in public opinion against the private provision of infrastructure services. The current sense of disillusionment stands in stark contrast to what should in retrospect be surprise at the spectacular growth of private infrastructure during the 1990s.

Download or read book Privatization and Alternative Public Sector Reform in Sub Saharan Africa written by K. Bayliss and published by Springer. This book was released on 2007-11-12 with total page 287 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: it is increasingly apparent that the privatization experiment in sub-Saharan Africa has failed. This book shows that the state is set to dominate service delivery for the foreseeable future in much of the region, and that the public sector must be considered as a viable policy option for the delivery of water and electricity.

Download or read book The Privatization of Public Utilities written by Mario Baldassarri and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-07-27 with total page 291 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The privatization of public utilities raises several complex issues. The privatization decision involves not only the transfer of ownership from the public to the private sector, and thus the design of appropriate selling procedures (with regard to valuation of assets, flotation of shares, etc), but also, and most importantly, it appears to require the adjustment of significant features of the industrial organization and the regulatory framework. This volume focuses on the two related questions of why and how to proceed to privatization.