Download or read book How Widespread Were Private Investment and Regulatory Reform in Infrastructure Utilities During the 1990s written by Antonio Estache and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 36 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This note provides a snapshot as of 2004 of the share of countries with an independent regulatory agency and with at least some private sector financing of its sectoral investment needs for electricity, water and sanitation, and telecommunications. Among other things, they show that: For respectively, electricity, water and sanitation, and telecommunications, 51 percent, 21 percent, and 66 percent of the developing countries in the sample have an independent regulator, that is, an agency separate from a ministry and from the operator. For respectively, electricity generation, electricity distribution, water and sanitation, and telecommunications, 47 percent, 36 percent, 35 percent, and 59 percent of the developing countries in the sample have at least some private sector financing. The shares of both agencies and private sector involvement tend to increase with income levels. Latin and Central America and Eastern Europe are outliers among regions as almost systematically they have among the highest shares for both indicators across sectors (except water).
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 World Development Report 1994 written by and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 1994 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: World Development Report 1994 examines the link between infrastructure and development and explores ways in which developing countries can improve both the provision and the quality of infrastructure services. In recent decades, developing countries have made substantial investments in infrastructure, achieving dramatic gains for households and producers by expanding their access to services such as safe water, sanitation, electric power, telecommunications, and transport. Even more infrastructure investment and expansion are needed in order to extend the reach of services - especially to people living in rural areas and to the poor. But as this report shows, the quantity of investment cannot be the exclusive focus of policy. Improving the quality of infrastructure service also is vital. Both quantity and quality improvements are essential to modernize and diversify production, help countries compete internationally, and accommodate rapid urbanization. The report identifies the basic cause of poor past performance as inadequate institutional incentives for improving the provision of infrastructure. To promote more efficient and responsive service delivery, incentives need to be changed through commercial management, competition, and user involvement. Several trends are helping to improve the performance of infrastructure. First, innovation in technology and in the regulatory management of markets makes more diversity possible in the supply of services. Second, an evaluation of the role of government is leading to a shift from direct government provision of services to increasing private sector provision and recent experience in many countries with public-private partnerships is highlighting new ways to increase efficiency and expand services. Third, increased concern about social and environmental sustainability has heightened public interest in infrastructure design and performance.
Download or read book Utilities Reforms and Corruption in Developing Countries written by Antonio Estache and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2006 with total page 30 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper shows empirically that "privatization" in the energy, telecommunications, and water sectors, and the introduction of independent regulators in those sectors, have not always had the expected effects on access, affordability, or quality of services. It also shows that corruption leads to adjustments in the quantity, quality, and price of services consistent with the profit-maximizing behavior that one would expect from monopolies in the sector. The results suggest that privatization and the introduction of independent regulators have, at best, only partial effects on the consequences of corruption for access, affordability, and quality of utility 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 Infrastructure to 2030 Telecom Land Transport Water and Electricity written by OECD and published by OECD Publishing. This book was released on 2006-06-29 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This long-term examination of future infrastructure needs examines what will be required, how it will be financed, and how such factors as climate change, globalisation, and urbanisation will affect these needs.
Download or read book Reasserting the Public in Public Services written by M. Ramesh and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2010-02-25 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After two decades of dominating the public sector reform agenda, privatization is on the wane as states gradually reassert themselves in many formerly privatized sectors. The change of direction is a response to the realization that privatization is not working as intended, especially in public service sectors. This landmark volume brings together leading social scientists, including B. Guy Peters, Anthony Cheung and Jon Pierre, to systematically discuss the emerging patterns of the reassertion of the state in the delivery of essential public services. The state under these emerging arrangements assumes overall responsibility for and control over essential public service delivery, yet allows scope for market incentives and competition when they are known to work. The recent reforms thus display a more pragmatic and nuanced understanding of how markets work in public services . The first part of the book provides the theoretical context while the second provides sectoral studies of recent reforms in healthcare, education, transportation, electricity and water supply. It includes case studies from a range of countries: Brazil, China, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, USA, Hong Kong and the UK. This book will be of interest to students and scholars in Political Science, Public Administration, Public Policy, Geography, Political Economy, Sociology, and Urban Planning.
Download or read book Performance Measurement and Regulation of Network Utilities written by Tim Coelli and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2006-01-01 with total page 408 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores the important role that economic performance measurement is playing in the regulation of network utilities in many countries today. The contributors to the book - researchers from academia, regulatory agencies and consulting firms - address the use of efficiency measures in price regulation and in assessing the effects of past regulatory reforms. Industries examined include electricity supply, water supply, telecommunications and airlines, across a range of countries including the USA, UK, Norway, the Netherlands, Australia and New Zealand.
Download or read book Urban Infrastructure and Governance written by G Ramesh and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2020-11-29 with total page 243 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book contains a selection of papers on urban governance in its multiple perspectives. It has evolved from the presentations made at the Third International Conference on Public Policy and Management held in 2008.The topics are grouped into several themes: Urban Plan and Governance, Urban Governance through Partnership and Participation, and Financing Urban Infrastructure. With several examples from developing nations, the book dwells into the practical and managerial aspects of urban planning, partnerships, participation, financial mobilization and effective governance. One of the highlights of the book is that it looks at financial mobilization as a strategy for governance and how the financial system in itself can be an instrument of governance.
Download or read book Telecommunications performance reforms and governance written by and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2006 with total page 22 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The World Bank Research Program 2005 2007 written by and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2008 with total page 286 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This pocket-sized reference on key environmental data for over 200 countries includes key indicators on agriculture, forestry, biodiversity, energy, emission and pollution, and water and sanitation. The volume helps establish a sound base of information to help set priorities and measure progress toward environmental sustainability goals.
Download or read book regulatory agencies impact on firm performance and social welfare written by Martin A. Rossi and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2012 with total page 28 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The authors explore the relation between the establishment of a regulatory agency and the performance of the electricity sector. The authors exploit a unique dataset comprising firm-level information on a representative sample of 220 electric utilities from 51 development and transition countries for the years 1985 to 2005. Their results indicate that regulatory agencies are associated with more efficient firms and with higher social welfare.
Download or read book Current Debates on Infrastructure Policy written by Antonio Estache and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2009 with total page 43 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper provides an overview of the major current debates on infrastructure policy. It reviews the evidence on the macroeconomic significance of the sector in terms of growth and poverty alleviation. It also discusses the major institutional debates, including the relative comparative advantage of the public and the private sector in the various stages of infrastructure service delivery as well as the main options for changes in the role of government (i.e. regulation and decentralization).
Download or read book Challenges of African Growth written by B. J. Ndulu and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2007 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Poverty in Africa is largely the outcome of slow growth. With the region hosting 10 percent of the world's population but a staggering 30 percent of the world's poor, the challenges it faces are enormous but NOT insurmountable. The message of this book is clear - poverty-eradicating development in Africa is possible. In fact, there are indications that Africa is at a turning point, and there is growing momentum among front-runner economies in the region toward higher and sustained growth. This study challenges African countries and their development partners to consolidate and continue this momentum and to exploit the advantages of the continent as a latecomer, particularly in innovation and in drawing lessons from successful export-led growth experiences in Asia and Latin America. "Challenges of African Growth" identifies opportunities, constraints, and strategic choices that African countries face in their quest for achieving the growth necessary for poverty alleviation. More important, the study provides a broad menu of stategic options for ensuring not only that countries embark on a growth path, but also that the growth is shared and sustainable. The critical areas for action rest on four pillars: the investment climate; infrastructure; innovation for increasing productivity and competitiveness; and institutional capacity.
Download or read book Rethinking Power Sector Reform in the Developing World written by Vivien Foster and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2019-12-05 with total page 454 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the 1990s, a new paradigm for power sector reform was put forward emphasizing the restructuring of utilities, the creation of regulators, the participation of the private sector, and the establishment of competitive power markets. Twenty-five years later, only a handful of developing countries have fully implemented these Washington Consensus policies. Across the developing world, reforms were adopted rather selectively, resulting in a hybrid model, in which elements of market orientation coexist with continued state dominance of the sector. This book aims to revisit and refresh thinking on power sector reform approaches for developing countries. The approach relies heavily on evidence from the past, drawing both on broad global trends and deep case material from 15 developing countries. It is also forward looking, considering the implications of new social and environmental policy goals, as well as the emerging technological disruptions. A nuanced picture emerges. Although regulation has been widely adopted, practice often falls well short of theory, and cost recovery remains an elusive goal. The private sector has financed a substantial expansion of generation capacity; yet, its contribution to power distribution has been much more limited, with efficiency levels that can sometimes be matched by well-governed public utilities. Restructuring and liberalization have been beneficial in a handful of larger middle-income nations but have proved too complex for most countries to implement. Based on these findings, the report points to three major policy implications. First, reform efforts need to be shaped by the political and economic context of the country. The 1990s reform model was most successful in countries that had reached certain minimum conditions of power sector development and offered a supportive political environment. Second, countries found alternative institutional pathways to achieving good power sector outcomes, making a case for greater pluralism. Among the top performers, some pursued the full set of market-oriented reforms, while others retained a more important role for the state. Third, reform efforts should be driven and tailored to desired policy outcomes and less preoccupied with following a predetermined process, particularly since the twenty-first-century century agenda has added decarbonization and universal access to power sector outcomes. The Washington Consensus reforms, while supportive of the twenty-first-century century agenda, will not be able to deliver on them alone and will require complementary policy measures
Download or read book Longarm and the Tascosa Two Step written by Tabor Evans and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2007 with total page 25 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When the judge in charge of the murderous Tull family's trial begins receiving death threats, Deputy U.S. Marshal Custis Long must dodge bullets at every turn to get the judge to the courthouse--alive. Original.
Download or read book International Handbook of Energy Security written by Hugh Dyer and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2013-01-01 with total page 575 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ÔThis Handbook should be consulted by anybody interested in the issue of energy security. It convincingly demonstrates why the provision of energy is such a contentious issue, addressing the complex interaction of economic, social, environmental, technical and political aspects involved. The book is particularly valuable in investigating and highlighting processes in which (inter)national actors apply this variety of aspects in (re)constructing their notion of Òenergy securityÓ, its particular meaning and the implications thereof. Such understanding of energy security is helpful!Õ Ð Aad F. CorreljŽ, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands ÔEnergy security has for long been treated as an issue of pure geopolitics. Hugh Dyer and Maria Julia Trombetta aim at broadening energy security debates and extend them to new agendas. Their excellent Handbook offers a fresh perspective on four crucial dimensions: supply, demand, environment and human security. A diverse group of international energy scholars provides for an in-depth and comprehensive analysis of key contemporary energy problems, ranging from an oil producersÕ perspectives on energy security to ethical dimensions of renewable energy and climate governance.Õ Ð Andreas Goldthau, Central European University, Hungary This Handbook brings together energy security experts to explore the implications of framing the energy debate in security terms, both in respect of the governance of energy systems and the practices associated with energy security. The contributors expertly review and analyse the key aspects and research issues in the emerging field of energy security, test the current state of knowledge, and provide suggestions for reflection and further analysis. This involves providing an account of the multiplicity of discourses and meanings of energy security, and contextualizing them. They also suggest a rewriting of energy security discourses and their representation in purely economic terms. This volume examines energy security and its conceptual and practical challenges from the perspectives of security of supply, security of demand, environmental change and human security. It will prove essential for students in the fields of global, international and national politics of energy, economics, and society as well as engineering. It will also appeal to policy practitioners and anybody interested in keeping the lights on, avoiding climate change, and providing a secure future for humanity.
