The periodical re-auction of a water monopoly concession causes the danger of underinvestment. If the life-time of … specific assets such as water pipes exceeds the contract length and transferring the ownership of assets is difficult, the … incumbent franchisee faces a hold-up problem. Using a simple auction model that considers the specifics of the piped water …

Due to the increasing discussion about liberalisation in the piped water industry municipal authorities in several … European countries consider modifications of their water utilities’ structure such as legal constitution, business objectives … water utilities as welfare or profit maximising companies when assuming the introduction of competition in the market based …

and cross boarder trade in the piped water market. We argue that due to the specific circumstances in the water sector … networks could alternatively be used for cross boarder trade between neighboured water utilities. We show that competition by …

There are significant differences in the way water rights are defined, allocated and administered in Australia and … overseas. This paper includes comparisons of the arrangements for managing water rights against accepted best practice …

Metering water consumption has been long advocated by economists in developing countries as a way to curb waste and … metering or the conditions under which decentralized water metering decisions are optimal. The decision where to install water …, both the consumer’s and the company’s decentralized water metering decisions are sub-optimal. This is because the firm when …

This paper surveys water pricing models, highlighting some important results. Efficiency rquires marginal cost pricing … marginal cost pricing mechanism may signal the value that consumers attribute to further capacity expansions as the water …

Marginal cost pricing of running water and sewerage services has long been the default recommendation of economists and … natural resource specialists to firms and local governments. However, water pricing has never been studied simultaneously with … the water metering problem before. The socially optimal number of meters crucially depends on the price of water charged …