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Book Governance and Performance of Water Utility Firms

Download or read book Governance and Performance of Water Utility Firms written by Stefano Pozzoli and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-10-24 with total page 56 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Italy, the debate about the reform process, that has involved the water sector for several years, cannot be considered concluded. It seems exclusively ideological and often it does not consider the business administration perspective, which certainly could make a contribution to the solution of different problems. Politicians and researchers, for example, show very little interest for the economic and financial performance of water utility firms, focusing almost exclusively on the different ways for providing the services or on the ownership structure. This work analyzes the variables characterizing the outsourcing process in the water sector. It also explores the connection of such variables with the performance of companies and local government authorities involved in the delivery process. Subsequently, the work explains the results of an exploratory analysis of different cases in the international context, making also a comparison about the performance. Lastly, the work verifies the existence of some best practices and evaluates the adaptability of these best practices in the Italian context.

Book Facing the Challenges of Water Governance

Download or read book Facing the Challenges of Water Governance written by Simon Porcher and published by Springer. This book was released on 2018-11-19 with total page 366 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Access to water is one of the most pressing global issues of the twenty-first century, particularly when set against the background of a rapidly growing global population. This book provides a cutting-edge, comprehensive overview of the challenges facing water governance and regulatory choices. The recently adopted Sustainable Development Goals set forward an ambitious agenda of providing universal access to good quality water supply and sanitation services within a financially constrained environment: however, the various peculiarities of each country regarding water governance makes it difficult to identify and implement the best practices and benchmarks. Drawing together empirical studies from countries around the world, the editors and contributors combine extensive data to review the individual challenges facing each country, from the supervision of autonomous regulatory bodies to the question of centralization and the influence of local utility companies. This pioneering and practical volume will be of interest and value not only to students and scholars of water governance, but also to practitioners and regulators.

Book infrastructure governance and corruption  where next

Download or read book infrastructure governance and corruption where next written by Charles Kenny and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2007 with total page 34 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Abstract: Governance is central to development outcomes in infrastructure, not least because corruption (a symptom of failed governance) can have significantly negative impact on returns to infrastructure investment. This conclusion holds whether infrastructure is in private or public hands. This paper looks at what has been learned about the role of governance in infrastructure, provides some recent examples of reform efforts and project approaches, and suggests an agenda for greater engagement - primarily at the sector level - to improve governance and reduce the development impact of corruption. The discussion covers market structure, regulation, state-owned enterprise reform, planning and budgeting, and project design.

Book Water Utility Benchmarking

Download or read book Water Utility Benchmarking written by Sanford Berg and published by IWA Publishing. This book was released on 2010-03-31 with total page 185 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Benchmarking is essential for those developing and implementing water policy. If decision-makers do not know where they have been or where they are, it would seem to be impossible to set reasonable targets for future performance. Information on water/sewerage system (WSS) operations, investments, and outputs is essential for good management and oversight. This book is designed to help decision makers identify the data required for performance comparisons over time and across water utilities, to understand the strengths and limitations of alternative benchmarking methodologies, and to perform (or commission) benchmark studies. This book provides an overview of the strengths and limitations of different methodologies for making performance comparisons over time and across water utilities (metric benchmarking). In addition, it identifies ways to determine the robustness of performance rankings. Current benchmarking activities in Latin America, Asia, Africa, Central Europe/Asia, and OECD nations are summarized. Five basic approaches to benchmarking characterize current studies: Core indicators and a summary or overall performance Indicator (partial metric method), Performance scores based on production or cost estimates (“total” methods), Performance relative to a model company (engineering approach), Process benchmarking, and Customer survey benchmarking. This volume is of interest to the water professionals, water utility managers and senior staff of regulatory agencies, professionals in related government agencies, and consultants. Visit the IWA WaterWiki to read and share material related to this title: http://www.iwawaterwiki.org/xwiki/bin/view/Articles/InfrastructureRegulationStateOwnedEnterprisesVsInvestor-ownedInfrastructureOperators

Book Infrastructure and Poverty in Sub Saharan Africa

Download or read book Infrastructure and Poverty in Sub Saharan Africa written by A. Estache and published by Springer. This book was released on 2014-11-19 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Infrastructure and Poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa analyzes the extent to which, how, and how fast the infrastructure needs of the poor have been met in Sub-Saharan Africa. Estache and Wodon explore the extent to which some key policies have hurt or helped progress in trying to speed the expansions of coverage so clearly needed in the region. They focus on electricity, water, sanitation, and other services at the core of the day-to-day needs of the population, examining the extent to which reforms of the last 15-20 years have managed to reduce the infrastructure gap. They anchor their analysis on the evidence available about the macroeconomic importance of infrastructure for the region, the policies that have been adopted to accelerate coverage, and a detailed assessment of the poverty dimensions of infrastructure.

Book Utilities Reforms and Corruption in Developing Countries

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.

Book Infrastructure Regulation

    Book Details:
  • Author : Darryl S. L. Jarvis
  • Publisher : World Scientific
  • Release : 2011
  • ISBN : 9814335746
  • Pages : 622 pages

Download or read book Infrastructure Regulation written by Darryl S. L. Jarvis and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 2011 with total page 622 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ch. 1. Regulating infrastructure : a review of the issues, problems, and challenges / Ed Araral [und weitere] -- pt. I. Problems, issues, and perspectives in regulation, regulatory design and outcomes. ch. 2. Infrastructure regulation : what works, why, and how do we know? / Judith Clifton [und weitere]. ch. 3. Does political accountability matter for infrastructure regulation? : the case of telecommunications / Farid Gasmi, Paul Noumba and Laura Recuero Virto. ch. 4. Entry relaxation and an independent regulator : performance impact on the mobile telecoms industry in Asia / Chalita Srinuan, Pratompong Srinuan and Erik Bohlin -- pt. II. Electricity sector regulation & governance. ch. 5. Risk, regulation and governance : institutional processes and regulatory risk in the Thai energy sector / Darryl S.L. Jarvis. ch. 6. Electricity tariff regulation in Thailand : analyses and applications of incentive regulation / Puree Sirasoontorn. ch. 7. Regulating power without a five year plan : institutional changes in the Chinese power sector / Kun-Chin Lin, Mika Purra and Hui Lin. ch. 8. The Indonesian electricity sector : institutional transition, regulatory capacity and outcomes / Mika Purra. ch. 9. Regulating the independent power producers : a comparative analysis of performance of Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, and Tamil Nadu in India / Rajendra Kumar. ch. 10. Partial privatization and nested regulation : institutional choices in public sector and regulatory reform / Sunil Tankha. ch. 11. The electricity industry reform in Korea : lessons for further liberalization / Junki Kim and Kyuhyun Kim -- pt. III. Water sector regulation & governance. ch. 12. Regulatory independence and contract incompleteness : assessing regulatory effectiveness in water privatization in Manila / Xun Wu, Loit Batac and Nepomuceno A. Malaluan. ch. 13. Can regulation improve the performance of government-controlled water utilities? / David Ehrhardt and Nils Janson. ch. 14. Effects of regulatory quality and political institutions on access to water and sanitation / Andrew B. Whitford, Helen Smith and Anant Mandawat. ch. 15. The regulation of water infrastructure in Italy : origins and effects of an 'hybrid' regulatory system / Alberto Asquer. ch. 16. Measuring effectiveness of regulation across a river system : a welfare approach / Alex Coram and Lyle Noakes. ch. 17. Private sector participation and regulatory reform in water supply : the Southern Mediterranean experience / Edouard Perard. ch. 18. Tempered responsiveness through regulatory negotiations in the water sector : managing unanticipated innovations emerging from participation reforms / Boyd Fuller and Sunil Tankha

Book Performance Measurement and Regulation of Network Utilities

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.

Book Strategy and Performance of Water Supply and Sanitation Providers

Download or read book Strategy and Performance of Water Supply and Sanitation Providers written by Marco Schouten and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2009-12-18 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The continuous growth in the demand for water supply and sanitation services has posed decision makers with the challenge to discover new, and to adapt existing, institutions. Since the last two decades, the most prominent institutional change for the water and sanitation sector is neo-liberalism. Neo-liberalism manifests itself in the water sector

Book Water

    Book Details:
  • Author : Unesco
  • Publisher : UN-HABITAT
  • Release : 2006
  • ISBN : 9231040065
  • Pages : 600 pages

Download or read book Water written by Unesco and published by UN-HABITAT. This book was released on 2006 with total page 600 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This illustrated report sets out a global review of the state of the world's freshwater resources, based on the collective work of 24 United Nations agencies, following on from the conclusions of the first UN World Water Development Report 'Water for People, Water for Life' published in 2003 (ISBN 9231038818). This second edition discusses progress towards the water-related targets of the UN Millennium Development Goals and examines a range of key issues including population growth and increasing urbanisation, changing ecosystems, food production, health, industry and energy, as well as risk management, valuing and paying for water and increasing knowledge and capacity. It contains 16 case studies which consider key challenges in water resource management and makes a number of recommendations to guide future action and encourage sustainable use, productivity and management of our increasingly scarce freshwater resources.

Book Rethinking Infrastructure for Development

Download or read book Rethinking Infrastructure for Development written by François Bourguignon and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2008 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides profiles of over 50 countries with 54 development indicators about people, environment, economy, technology, infrastructure, trade and finance, all in one handy, pocketsized volume. A must have for anyone interested in today's development challenges in subSaharan Africa.

Book Emerging Infrastructure Policy Issues in Developing Countries

Download or read book Emerging Infrastructure Policy Issues in Developing Countries written by Antonio Estache and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2004 with total page 43 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Estache reviews the recent economic research on emerging issues for infrastructure policies affecting poor people in developing countries. His main purpose is to identify some of the challenges the international community, and donors in particular, are likely to have to address over the next few years. He addresses six main issues: (1) the necessity of infrastructure in achieving the Millennium Development Goals; (2) the various dimensions of financing challenges for infrastructure; (3) the debate on the relative importance of urban and rural infrastructure needs; (4) the debate on the effectiveness of infrastructure decentralization; (5) what works and what does not when trying to target the needs of the poor, with an emphasis on affordability and regulation challenges; and (6) the importance of governance and corruption in the sector. The author concludes by showing how the challenges identified define a relatively well integrated agenda for both researchers and the international infrastructure community. This paper,a product of the Office of the Vice President, Infrastructure Network,is part of a larger effort in the network to stimulate more analytical assessments of emerging issues in the sector"--World Bank web site.

Book Macroeconomic Effects of Private Sector Participation in Latin America s Infrastructure

Download or read book Macroeconomic Effects of Private Sector Participation in Latin America s Infrastructure written by Lourdes Trujillo and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on with total page 32 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Abstract: Trujillo, Martín, Estache, and Campos provide empirical evidence on the impact that private participation in infrastructure has had on key macroeconomic variables in a sample of 21 Latin American countries from 1985-98. Specifically, they look at the effects on GDP per capita, current public expenditures, public investment, and private investment, controlling for country effects and institutional factors. The authors also investigate the relevance of the specific contractual form of private participation contracts on these variables and show differentiated effects according to contract types. The results suggest that: Private sector involvement in utilities and transport have some, but not impressive, positive effects on GDP per capita; There is some degree of crowding-out of private investment resulting from greenfield projects in utilities, and delayed crowding-in from concessions in transport. There is crowding-in of public investment by private participation in utilities, while there is crowding-out by increased private investment in transport; Private participation in utilities decreases recurrent expenditures, while in transport it results in an increase. The net effect on the public sector account is uncertain, but this uncertainty is a major risk. The revelation of this risk may be the main contribution of this paper since it is inconsistent with the fiscal gains expected by many policymakers as they engage in infrastructure privatization programs. This paper"a product of the Governance, Regulation, and Finance Division, World Bank Institute, and Finance, Private Sector, and Infrastructure Unit, Latin America and the Caribbean Region"is part of a larger effort in the Bank to increase understanding of infrastructure regulation.

Book Regulating Development

Download or read book Regulating Development written by Edmund Amann and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2006 with total page 323 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Regulating Development examines the impact that regulation good or bad can have on the development of poorer societies. It opens with a succinct review of critical issues, including the implications of the spread of intellectual property rights legislation and the role of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). The volume examines the regulatory experiences of three important developing economies: Brazil, Ghana and South Africa. Key regulatory themes are analysed, most notably capital markets and corporate governance regulation, the regulation of the telecommunications sector and the use of regulatory reforms to promote the development of small- and medium-sized enterprises. Within each chapter policy lessons are drawn, the relevance of which extend well beyond national or even regional boundaries. The principal aim of the book is to show the extent to which regulation is moving increasingly to centre stage as a driver of development in Africa and Latin America. The book also demonstrates how thoughtful, well-planned regulation can make a real contribution to the emergence of supply-side competitiveness. This book will be invaluable reading for academics, researchers and students with an interest in economics and development studies, as well as for regulators and policymakers in developing countries.

Book Law and Finance

    Book Details:
  • Author : Thorsten Beck
  • Publisher : World Bank Publications
  • Release : 2002
  • ISBN :
  • Pages : 52 pages

Download or read book Law and Finance written by Thorsten Beck and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2002 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: New research suggests that cross-country differences in legal origin help explain differences in financial development. This paper empirically assesses two theories of why legal origin influences financial development. First, the political' channel stresses that (i) legal traditions differ in the priority they give to the rights of individual investors vis- ...-vis the state and (ii) this has repercussions for the development of property rights and financial markets. Second, the adaptability' channel holds that (i) legal traditions differ in their ability to adjust to changing commercial circumstances and (ii) legal systems that adapt quickly to minimize the gap between the contracting needs of the economy and the legal system's capabilities will foster financial development more effectively than would more rigid legal traditions. We use historical comparisons and cross-country regressions to assess the validity of these two channels. We find that legal origin matters for financial development because legal traditions differ in their ability to adapt efficiently to evolving economic conditions.