IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ipc/wpaper/58.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Privatisation and Renationalisation: What Went Wrong in Bolivia’s Water Sector?

Author

Listed:
  • Degol Hailu

    (IPC-IG)

  • Rafael Guerreiro Osorio

    (IPC-IG)

  • Raquel Tsukada

    (IPC-IG)

Abstract

This paper investigates the impact of water service privatization in Bolivia. It compares the performance of cities in which the service was privatized (La Paz and El Alto) with a city in which it is managed as a cooperative (Santa Cruz de la Sierra) and one where the service is publicly provided (Cochabamba). We find that access to water by low-income consumers increased under private provision. However, the concessionaire failed to meet the targets stipulated in the contract. The tariff increases required for full cost recovery eventually led to public outrage that forced the government to renationalize the company.
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)

Suggested Citation

  • Degol Hailu & Rafael Guerreiro Osorio & Raquel Tsukada, 2009. "Privatisation and Renationalisation: What Went Wrong in Bolivia’s Water Sector?," Working Papers 58, International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth.
    • Handle: RePEc:ipc:wpaper:58
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ipcig.org/sites/default/files/pub/en/IPCWorkingPaper58.pdf
    File Function: First version, 2009
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gover Barja & Miguel Urquiola, 2003. "Capitalization, regulation and the poor: access to basic services in Bolivia," Chapters, in: Cecilia Ugaz (ed.), Utility Privatization and Regulation, chapter 9, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    2. Hulya Dagdeviren & Simon A. Robertson, 2009. "Access to Water in the Slums of the Developing World," Working Papers 57, International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth.
    3. Kakwani, N., 1993. "Performance in living standards : An international comparison," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(2), pages 307-336, August.
    4. Kate Bayliss, 2009. "Private Sector Participation in African Infrastructure: Is it Worth the Risk?," Working Papers 55, International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth.
    5. Komives, Kristin, 1999. "Designing pro-poor water and sewer concessions : early lessons from Bolivia," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2243, The World Bank.
    6. Birdsall, Nancy & Nellis, John, 2003. "Winners and Losers: Assessing the Distributional Impact of Privatization," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 31(10), pages 1617-1633, October.
    7. Degol Hailu & Portia Hunt, 2008. "Utility Provision: Contract Design in the Interest of the Poor," Policy Research Brief 10, International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth.
    8. George R.G. Clarke & Katrina Kosec & Scott Wallsten, 2009. "Has private participation in water and sewerage improved coverage? Empirical evidence from Latin America," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 21(3), pages 327-361.
    9. Hulya Dagdeviren & Degol Hailu, 2008. "Tariff Hikes with Low Investment: The Story of the Urban Water Sector in Zambia," One Pager 57, International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth.
    10. Kate Bayliss & Tim Kessler, 2006. "Can Privatisation and Commercialisation of Public Services Help Achieve The MDGs? An Assessment," Working Papers 22, International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth.
    11. Antonio Estache, 2007. "Infrastructure and Development: A survey of Recent and Upcoming Issues," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/44060, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    12. Kristin Komives & Penelope J. Brook Cowen, 1999. "Expanding Water and Sanitation Services to Low-Income Households : the Case of the La Paz-El Alto Concession," World Bank Publications - Reports 11484, The World Bank Group.
    13. Atkinson, Anthony B., 1970. "On the measurement of inequality," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 2(3), pages 244-263, September.
    14. Whittington, Dale, 1992. "Possible Adverse Effects of Increasing Block Water Tariffs in Developing Countries," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 41(1), pages 75-87, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Post, Alison E. & Murillo, María Victoria, 2016. "How Investor Portfolios Shape Regulatory Outcomes: Privatized Infrastructure After Crises," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 328-345.
    2. Estrin, Saul & Pelletier, Adeline, 2018. "Privatization in developing countries: what are the lessons of recent experience?," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 87348, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    3. repec:hal:journl:dumas-00811476 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Ronn Pineo, 2016. "Progress in Bolivia: Declining the United States Influence and the Victories of Evo Morales," Journal of Developing Societies, , vol. 32(4), pages 421-453, December.
    5. Ouda, Omar K.M. & Al-Waked, Rafat F. & Alshehri, Abdulrahman A., 2014. "Privatization of water-supply services in Saudi Arabia: A unique experience," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 107-113.
    6. Massimiliano Agovino & Massimiliano Cerciello & Antonio Garofalo & Loris Landriani & Luigi Lepore, 2021. "Corporate governance and sustainability in water utilities. The effects of decorporatisation in the city of Naples, Italy," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(2), pages 874-890, February.
    7. Alper Demirdogen, 2023. "Before Privatization There was Its Impact: Sugar Factories in Turkey," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 62(2), pages 199-218, March.
    8. James Alm, 2015. "Financing Urban Infrastructure: Knowns, Unknowns, And A Way Forward," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(2), pages 230-262, April.
    9. repec:hal:journl:hal-01023795 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Wutich, Amber & Beresford, Melissa & Carvajal, Cinthia, 2016. "Can Informal Water Vendors Deliver on the Promise of A Human Right to Water? Results From Cochabamba, Bolivia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 14-24.
    11. Estrin, Saul & Pelletier, Adeline, 2016. "Privatisation in Developing Countries: What Are the Lessons of Recent Experience?," IZA Discussion Papers 10297, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Cairns, Maryann R., 2018. "Metering water: Analyzing the concurrent pressures of conservation, sustainability, health impact, and equity in use," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 411-421.
    13. Swann Bommier & Cécile Renouard, 2014. "On Equity in India's Water Supply Public-Private Partnerships," Working Papers hal-01023795, HAL.
    14. Bommier, Swann & Renouard, Cécile, 2014. "On Equity in India's Water Supply Public-Private Partnerships," ESSEC Working Papers WP1411, ESSEC Research Center, ESSEC Business School.
    15. Lazzarini,Sergio G., 2022. "The Right Privatization," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781316519714, September.
    16. Gabriella Carolini & Daniel Gallagher & Isadora Cruxên, 2018. "The promise of proximity: The politics of knowledge and learning in South–South cooperation between water operators," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 36(7), pages 1157-1175, November.
    17. Saiani, Carlos & Azevedo, Paulo Furquim de, 2018. "Is privatization of sanitation services good for health?," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 27-36.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Estrin, Saul & Pelletier, Adeline, 2016. "Privatisation in Developing Countries: What Are the Lessons of Recent Experience?," IZA Discussion Papers 10297, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Estrin, Saul & Pelletier, Adeline, 2018. "Privatization in developing countries: what are the lessons of recent experience?," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 87348, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    3. Antonio Estache & Liam Wren-Lewis, 2009. "Toward a Theory of Regulation for Developing Countries: Following Jean-Jacques Laffont's Lead," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 47(3), pages 729-770, September.
    4. Leandro Prados de la Escosura, 2021. "Augmented human development in the age of globalization," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 74(4), pages 946-975, November.
    5. Bénédicte H. Apouey & Jacques Silber, 2016. "Performance and Inequality in Health: A Comparison of Child and Maternal Health across Asia," Research on Economic Inequality, in: Inequality after the 20th Century: Papers from the Sixth ECINEQ Meeting, volume 24, pages 181-214, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    6. William Joe & Udaya Shankar Mishra, 2015. "On Reckoning Level Differentials in the Measurement of Progress: An Illustration in the Context of Deliveries Assisted by Skilled Health Personnel," IEG Working Papers 352, Institute of Economic Growth.
    7. Sebastian Galiani & Paul Gertler & Ernesto Schargrodsky, 2005. "Water for Life: The Impact of the Privatization of Water Services on Child Mortality," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 113(1), pages 83-120, February.
    8. N. Kakwani, 1995. "Structural Adjustment and Performance in Living Standards in Developing Countries," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 26(3), pages 469-502, July.
    9. Sreenivasan Subramanian, 2004. "Indicators of Inequality and Poverty," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2004-25, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    10. Vivien Foster & Osvaldo Irusta, 2003. "Does infrastructure reform work for the poor? A case study on the cities of La Paz and El Alto in Bolivia," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3177, The World Bank.
    11. Emanuele Felice, 2012. "Neither dashboard nor 'mashup' indices: an empirical wealth approach as a pathway to a comprehensive measure of development," UHE Working papers 2012_01, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Departament d'Economia i Història Econòmica, Unitat d'Història Econòmica.
    12. repec:cte:whrepe:wp07-05 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Emanuele Felice, 2016. "The Misty Grail: The Search for a Comprehensive Measure of Development and the Reasons for GDP Primacy," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 47(5), pages 967-994, September.
    14. Sreenivasan Subramanian, 2011. "Inter-group Disparities in the Distributional Analysis of Human Development: Concepts, Measurement, and Illustrative Applications," The Review of Black Political Economy, Springer;National Economic Association, vol. 38(1), pages 27-52, March.
    15. Philippe Marin, 2009. "Public-Private Partnerships for Urban Water Utilities : A Review of Experiences in Developing Countries," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 2703.
    16. Iñaki Permanyer, 2013. "The measurement of success in achieving the Millennium Development Goals," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 11(3), pages 393-415, September.
    17. World Bank, 2006. "Approaches to Private Participation in Water Services : A Toolkit," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 6982.
    18. Ashantha Ranasinghe & Xuejuan Su, 2023. "When social assistance meets market power: A mixed duopoly view of health insurance in the United States," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 61(4), pages 851-869, October.
    19. Gajdos, Thibault & Maurin, Eric, 2004. "Unequal uncertainties and uncertain inequalities: an axiomatic approach," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 116(1), pages 93-118, May.
    20. Eckstein, Zvi & Zilcha, Itzhak, 1994. "The effects of compulsory schooling on growth, income distribution and welfare," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(3), pages 339-359, July.
    21. Alain Chateauneuf & Patrick Moyes, 2005. "Lorenz non-consistent welfare and inequality measurement," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 2(2), pages 61-87, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ipc:wpaper:58. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Andre Lyra (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ipcunbr.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.