Reforming Infrastructure : Privatization, Regulation, and Competition

Infrastructure industries and services are crucial for generating economic growth, alleviating poverty, and increasing international competitiveness. Safe water is essential for life, and health. Reliable electricity saves businesses and consumers from having to invest in expensive backup systems, o...

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Main Author:	Kessides, Ioannis N.
Format:	Publication
Language:	en_US
Published:	Washington, DC: World Bank and Oxford University Press 2013
Subjects:	Infrastructure privatization Infrastructure reform Infrastructure regulation Competitiveness State-owned enterprises Monopolies Institution building Utilities Water supply & sanitation Transportation systems Service coverage Private sector participation Restructuring Cost effectiveness Investor confidence Regulatory reform Tariff policy Property rights Developing countries Transition economies Market liberalization Financial institutions
Online Access:	http://hdl.handle.net/10986/13525

id	okr-10986-13525
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	okr-10986-135252021-04-23T14:03:08Z Reforming Infrastructure : Privatization, Regulation, and Competition Kessides, Ioannis N. Infrastructure privatization Infrastructure reform Infrastructure regulation Competitiveness State-owned enterprises Monopolies Institution building Utilities Water supply & sanitation Transportation systems Service coverage Private sector participation Restructuring Cost effectiveness Investor confidence Regulatory reform Tariff policy Property rights Developing countries Transition economies Market liberalization Financial institutions Infrastructure industries and services are crucial for generating economic growth, alleviating poverty, and increasing international competitiveness. Safe water is essential for life, and health. Reliable electricity saves businesses and consumers from having to invest in expensive backup systems, or more costly alternatives, and keeps rural women and children from having to spend long hours fetching firewood. Widely available and affordable telecommunications and transportation services can foster grassroots entrepreneurship, and thus are critical to generating employment, and advancing economic development. In most developing and transition economies, private participation in infrastructure, and restructuring have been driven by the high costs, and poor performance of state-owned network utilities. Under state ownership, services were usually under-priced, and making it difficult to expand services. The report indicates that although privatization, competitive restructuring, and regulatory reforms improve infrastructure performance, several issues must be considered and conditions met for these measures to achieve their public interest goals. First, reforms have significantly improved performance, leading to higher investment, productivity, and service coverage and quality. Second, effective regulation-including the setting of adequate tariff levels-is the most critical enabling condition for infrastructure reform. Regulation should clarify property rights, and assure private investors that their investments will not be subject to regulatory opportunism. Third, for privatization to generate widely shared social benefits, infrastructure industries must be thoroughly restructured and able to sustain competition. Thus restructuring, to introduce competition should be done before privatization, and regulation should be in place to assure potential buyers of both competitive, and monopoly elements. 2013-05-23T13:47:47Z 2013-05-23T13:47:47Z 2004 978-0-8213-5070-6 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/13525 en_US Policy Research Report; CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo World Bank Washington, DC: World Bank and Oxford University Press Publications & Research :: Publication Publications & Research
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	Digital Repositories
building	World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection	World Bank
language	en_US
topic	Infrastructure privatization Infrastructure reform Infrastructure regulation Competitiveness State-owned enterprises Monopolies Institution building Utilities Water supply & sanitation Transportation systems Service coverage Private sector participation Restructuring Cost effectiveness Investor confidence Regulatory reform Tariff policy Property rights Developing countries Transition economies Market liberalization Financial institutions
spellingShingle	Infrastructure privatization Infrastructure reform Infrastructure regulation Competitiveness State-owned enterprises Monopolies Institution building Utilities Water supply & sanitation Transportation systems Service coverage Private sector participation Restructuring Cost effectiveness Investor confidence Regulatory reform Tariff policy Property rights Developing countries Transition economies Market liberalization Financial institutions Kessides, Ioannis N. Reforming Infrastructure : Privatization, Regulation, and Competition
relation	Policy Research Report;
description	Infrastructure industries and services are crucial for generating economic growth, alleviating poverty, and increasing international competitiveness. Safe water is essential for life, and health. Reliable electricity saves businesses and consumers from having to invest in expensive backup systems, or more costly alternatives, and keeps rural women and children from having to spend long hours fetching firewood. Widely available and affordable telecommunications and transportation services can foster grassroots entrepreneurship, and thus are critical to generating employment, and advancing economic development. In most developing and transition economies, private participation in infrastructure, and restructuring have been driven by the high costs, and poor performance of state-owned network utilities. Under state ownership, services were usually under-priced, and making it difficult to expand services. The report indicates that although privatization, competitive restructuring, and regulatory reforms improve infrastructure performance, several issues must be considered and conditions met for these measures to achieve their public interest goals. First, reforms have significantly improved performance, leading to higher investment, productivity, and service coverage and quality. Second, effective regulation-including the setting of adequate tariff levels-is the most critical enabling condition for infrastructure reform. Regulation should clarify property rights, and assure private investors that their investments will not be subject to regulatory opportunism. Third, for privatization to generate widely shared social benefits, infrastructure industries must be thoroughly restructured and able to sustain competition. Thus restructuring, to introduce competition should be done before privatization, and regulation should be in place to assure potential buyers of both competitive, and monopoly elements.
format	Publications & Research :: Publication
author	Kessides, Ioannis N.
author_facet	Kessides, Ioannis N.
author_sort	Kessides, Ioannis N.
title	Reforming Infrastructure : Privatization, Regulation, and Competition
title_short	Reforming Infrastructure : Privatization, Regulation, and Competition
title_full	Reforming Infrastructure : Privatization, Regulation, and Competition
title_fullStr	Reforming Infrastructure : Privatization, Regulation, and Competition
title_full_unstemmed	Reforming Infrastructure : Privatization, Regulation, and Competition
title_sort	reforming infrastructure : privatization, regulation, and competition
publisher	Washington, DC: World Bank and Oxford University Press
publishDate	2013
url	http://hdl.handle.net/10986/13525
_version_	1764423686981419008

Reforming Infrastructure : Privatization, Regulation, and Competition

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