Journal ArticleDOI
The impact of privatization and regulation on the water and sewerage industry in England and Wales: a translog cost function model
David S. Saal,David Parker +1 more
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In this paper, a translog multiple output cost function model for the period 1985-1999 is presented to determine the extent of scale and scope economies in the water and sewerage industry, as well as the impact of privatization and economic regulation on economic efficiency.Abstract:
After the ten Regional Water Authorities (RWAs) of England and Wales were privatized in November 1989, the successor Water and Sewerage Companies (WASCs) faced a new regulatory regime that was designed to promote economic efficiency while simultaneously improving drinking water and environmental quality. As legally mandated quality improvements necessitated a costly capital investment programme, the industry's economic regulator, the Office of Water Services (Ofwat), implemented a retail price index (RPI)+K pricing system, which was designed to compensate the WASCs for their capital investment programme while also encouraging gains in economic efficiency. In order to analyse jointly the impact of privatization, as well as the impact of increasingly stringent economic and environmental regulation on the WASCs' economic performance, this paper estimates a translog multiple output cost function model for the period 1985–1999. Given the significant costs associated with water quality improvements, the model is augmented to include the impact of drinking water quality and environmental quality on total costs. The model is then employed to determine the extent of scale and scope economies in the water and sewerage industry, as well as the impact of privatization and economic regulation on economic efficiency.read more
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
Is Private Production of Public Services Cheaper Than Public Production? A Meta-Regression Analysis of Solid Waste and Water Services.
TL;DR: This article conducted a meta-regression analysis of all econometric studies examining privatization of water distribution and solid waste collection services and found no systematic support for lower costs with private production.
Journal ArticleDOI
Determining the contribution of technical change, efficiency change and scale change to productivity growth in the privatized English and Welsh water and sewerage industry: 1985–2000
TL;DR: The water and sewerage industry of England and Wales was privatized in 1989 and subjected to a new regime of environmental, water quality and RPI+K price cap regulation as mentioned in this paper.
Journal ArticleDOI
Electricity sector reform in developing countries: an econometric assessment of the effects of privatisation, competition and regulation
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors provide an econometric assessment of the effects of privatization, competition and regulation on the performance of the electricity generation industry using panel data for 36 developing and transitional countries, over the period 1985-2003.
Journal ArticleDOI
Productivity and efficiency in the water industry
Malcolm Abbott,Bruce Cohen +1 more
TL;DR: In this article, the authors review the various measures that have been used to gauge the levels of productivity and efficiency in the water sector, with particular reference to input and output data requirements of these measures.
Journal ArticleDOI
Does privatization of solid waste and water services reduce costs? A review of empirical studies
Germà Bel,Mildred E. Warner +1 more
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors conduct a review of all published econometric studies of water and waste production since 1970 and conclude that little support is found for a link between privatization and cost savings.
References
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TL;DR: A Theory of Incentives in Procurement and Regulation (TIIN) as mentioned in this paper is a popular textbook for regulatory economics, with a particular focus on the regulation of natural monopolies such as military contractors, utility companies and transportation authorities.
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