The paper introduces insights into a methodology for developing regulation applicable to networked industries. Following telecommunications, the energy industry is most apt to undergo significant structural and regulatory reforms as a function technological advancement. The application of this...

France lived through a long period of nationalization until the early 1980s, when nearly all the largest industrial firms as well as all the banks and public services were state-owned. Since then, a series of privatization moves have caused the state sector to shrink. Public services present a...

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...

This paper provides evidence that ownership and organization matters for the efficiency of provision of public services. In particular, we find that pure private ownership is more efficient than pure public ownership, followed by mixed ownership. The delegation of management in different legal...

This paper compares water and sanitation services in municipalities that entered into a concession arrangement with a private operator versus those in a comparable control group of municipalities that continued with a public operator, and we explore five variables of interest: (i) water coverage;...

This paper provides a 'back-of-the-envelope' assessment of the efficiency effects of the reforms of the water sector in Argentina. Private operators are now key players in 15 of Argentina's provinces. While all have adopted incentive based regulatory regimes which require estimates of economic...

Successful network utility privatisation requires incentive-based regulation that allows investment to be adequately rewarded from unsubsidised revenues while maintaining quality, and restructuring that permits effective competition for the network services. The potential for success and the...

In 1997 the government of the Philippines privatised the water services in the Manila Metropolitan Area (covering approximately 11 million people) by granting two large concession areas to consortia of international water companies and local partners. This case study tracks the successful...