In the early 1990s Mexico City's Federal District (the D.F.) initiated a series of service contracts with four operators in the private sector, each to be implemented in three stages over ten years. The idea was to introduce competitive pressures and to find out if a "gradualist" aaproach would...

Private sector participation in Guinea's urban water sector has benefited consumers, the government, and, to a lesser extent, the new foreign owners. Performance will improve further when the government starts paying its own water bill on time and when the legislature authorizes the collection...

A void in the literature on the business environment is how it evolves over time. Focusing on China during its crucial two decades of transition (from the early 1990s to the early 2010s), this paper documents how the country's business environment and the characteristics of entrepreneurs...

A key to understand the evolution of an economy is the property rights institution and the contracting institution that the government set up to shape the business environment of private firms. Focusing on China during its crucial two decades of transition (from the early 1990s to the early...