Andres, Luis A.

Person:
Andres, Luis A.

Global Practice on Water

Fields of Specialization

Infrastructure economics

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ResearchGate

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Global Practice on Water

Last updated: January 31, 2023

Biography

Luis Andrés is Lead Economist in the Water Global Practice at the World Bank. Earlier, Dr. Andres held positions in the Sustainable Development Department for the Latin America and the Caribbean, and the South Asia Regions. His work at the World Bank involves both analytical and advisory services, with a focus on infrastructure, mainly in water and energy sectors, impact evaluations, private sector participation, regulation, and empirical microeconomics. He worked with numerous Latin American, South Asian, and East Europe governments. Before joining the World Bank, he was the Chief of Staff for the Secretary of Fiscal and Social Equity for the Government of Argentina and held other positions in the Chief of Cabinet of Ministries and the Ministry of Economy. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Chicago and he has authored books, chapters in several books, monographs, and articles on development policy issues.

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Publication Search Results

Now showing 1 - 10 of 44

Troubled Tariffs: Revisiting Water Pricing for Affordable and Sustainable Water Services
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-12-02) Saltiel, Gustavo; Andres, Luis A.; Misra, Smita; Lombana Cordoba, Camilo; Joseph, George; Thibert, Michael; Fenwick, Crystal
Tariffs are essential but not the only pathway to cost recovery, addressing affordability, and managing water conservation. To maximize their potential, they must be well designed, complemented by appropriate instruments, adequately regulated, and understood by customers. This report builds upon that one, and provides policy makers with the information needed to design better tariffs to further the economic efficiency, affordability, and environmental sustainability of water supply services. Through a layered and comprehensive analysis of the most prevalent tariff structures, it provides policy makers with specific guidance on pricing water supply services in response to the sector’s often-competing goals. This document comprises a synthesis of fifteen unique research papers that, combined, articulate a step-by-step thought process for designing effective tariffs with a view to achieving sustainable development goal (SDG) 6.
Estimating the Magnitude of Water Supply and Sanitation Subsidies
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-10) Espineira, Gonzalo; Andres, Luis; Sember, German; Joseph, George; Thibert, Michael
The water supply and sanitation sector remains heavily subsidized around the world. Yet, the accounting of water supply and sanitation subsidies globally has proved challenging due to utility-level data limitations and their often implicit nature. This paper develops a methodology to estimate water supply and sanitation subsidies that is adaptable to data scarce environments, while accounting for differences among service providers such as population served (to account for economies of scale), coverage of water and sanitation services individually, and their level of operational efficiency in terms of water losses and staffing. This methodology is based on Chile’s empresa modelo (model firm) approach to cost-reflective tariff estimation and uses utility-level data from the World Bank's International Benchmarking Network for Water and Sanitation Utilities database. The results suggest that the cost of subsidies associated with the operations, maintenance, and major repair and replacement of existing water supply and sanitation infrastructure in much of the world (excluding, notably, China and India) is an estimated $289 billion to $353 billion per year, or 0.46 to 0.56 percent of the countries' combined gross domestic product. This figure rises, shockingly, to 1.59 to 1.95 percent if only low- and middle-income economies are considered, an amount largely due to the capital subsidies captured in the estimation. Subsidies of operating costs account for approximately 22 percent of the total subsidy amount in the full sample and for low-income economies separately. Annual subsidy amounts by region range from 0.05 to 2.40 percent of gross domestic product, and low-income economies are generally at the high end of this range. The estimations do not include capital expenditure for infrastructure expansion -- which tends to be fully subsidized -- or environmental costs. Therefore, the actual global magnitude of networked water supply and sanitation subsidies is much greater than the estimation.
Beyond Money: Does Migration Experience Transfer Gender Norms? Empirical Evidence from Kerala, India
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2022-03-14) Joseph, George; Wang, Qiao; Chellaraj, Gnanaraj; Taş, Emcet O.; Andres, Luis Alberto; Javaid, Syed Usman; Rajan, Irudaya
This paper examines the impact of return migration from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf on the transfer of gender norms to the Indian state of Kerala. Migration to countries in the Middle East has led to significant remittance flows and economic prosperity, although the effects on social norms and attitudes remain largely unexplored. The paper finds that returning migrants from Saudi Arabia tend to exhibit conservative values regarding gender-based violence and extreme attitudes pertaining to the perpetration of physical violence against women. Compared with those who have no migration experience, the attitudes of returning migrants from Saudi Arabia toward gender-based violence were more conservative by three standard deviations, while the attitudes of those returning from the Gulf were less conservative by 0.5 standard deviation. Similarly, compared with those with no migration experience, returning migrants from Saudi Arabia were more conservative by 2.6 standard deviations regarding extreme attitudes related to gender norms, such as sexual assault, while those returning from the Gulf were less conservative by 0.7 standard deviation. These results show that migration experience can have a substantial impact on the gender attitudes of returning migrants, with potential implications for migration and gender policies in Kerala and for countries that send a large share of temporary migrants overseas for work.
The Road to Opportunities in Rural India: The Economic and Social Impacts of PMGSY
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-12-01) Alam, Muneeza Mehmood; Herrera Dappe, Matias; Andres, Luis
This report presents the results of an impact evaluation of the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) rural roads program in India. The program targeted the provision of all-weather roads to about 178,000 habitations across India. The impact evaluation uses a difference-in-difference approach and panel data from the states of Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan collected in 2009 and 2017. The evaluation finds that PMGSY improved accessibility, particularly in hilly areas, increased access to economic opportunities, triggering a change in the structure of employment in rural India, and had a positive impact on human capital formation in rural India, with boys and girls benefiting equally.
Diagnosing Angola’s WASH Sector: An Urgent Call to Action
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-05-10) Lombana Cordoba, Camilo; Andres, Luis A.; Da Costa, Lucrecio A.M.; Fenwick, Crystal
Angola’s human development potential is constrained by the state of its water supply, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) sector. The Angola WASH sector diagnostic identifies key service-delivery problems in the WASH sector and their enabling environment through an institutional assessment and political economy analysis that takes into account the cross-sectoral links underpinning human development. Specifically, the diagnostic first explores inequalities in access to WASH services and their relationship to childhood health in Angola, using data from the most recent demographic health survey (DHS, 2015-16) and the joint monitoring program (JMP) of the United Nations Children’s Fund and World Health Organization. Next, the diagnostic identifies key institutional constraints and bottlenecks through a comprehensive governance and public expenditure review of Angola’s WASH sector. Finally, the report provides guidance on how to improve the effectiveness of the WASH sector in support of broader policy goals to achieve sustainability and meet the targets of the sustainable development goals (SDGs). The diagnostic answers the following questions, each of which probes the links between access to safe WASH services and human development and highlights opportunities to improve policy, investments, and practice: (1) what is the current level and quality of access to WASH services in Angola, and how does access vary temporally and spatially?; (2) what are the links and synergies between WASH and other sectors critical to human development in Angola?; (3) what constrains WASH service delivery; and (4) what solutions will have the greatest effect on overall human development?
Doing More with Less: Smarter Subsidies for Water Supply and Sanitation
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-08-28) Thibert, Michael; Andres, Luis A.; Lombana Cordoba, Camilo; Danilenko, Alexander V.; Joseph, George; Borja-Vega, Christian
This report explores how scarce public resources can be used most effectively to achieve universal delivery of water supply and sanitation services. It analyzes the prevalence and performance of subsidies in the sector, then guide policymakers on improving subsidy design and implementation to improve their efficacy and efficiency in attaining their objectives.
Study of the Distributional Performance of Piped Water Consumption Subsidies in 10 Developing Countries
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-05) Abramovsky, Laura; Andres, Luis; Joseph, George; Rud, Juan Pablo; Sember, German; Thibert, Michael
This paper provides new evidence on how effectively piped water consumption subsidies are targeting poor households in 10 low- and middle-income countries around the world. The results suggest that, in these countries, existing tariff structures fall short of recovering the costs of service provision, and the resulting subsidies largely fail to achieve their goal of improving the accessibility and affordability of piped water for poor households. Instead, the majority of subsidies in all 10 countries are captured by the richest households. This is in part because the most vulnerable population segments typically face challenges in accessing and connecting to piped water services. The paper also reveals shortcomings in the design of the subsidies, which are conditional on poor households being connected to a piped network.
A Multiple-Arm, Cluster-Randomized Impact Evaluation of the Clean India (Swachh Bharat) Mission Program in Rural Punjab, India
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-05) Deb, Saubhik; Andres, Luis; Larenas, Maria Isabel; Joseph, George; Grabinsky Zabludovsky, Jonathan
This study reports the findings of a large-scale, multiple-arm, cluster-randomized control study carried out in rural Punjab, India, to assess the impact of a flagship sanitation program of the Government of India. The program, the Clean India Mission for Villages, was implemented between October 2014 and October 2019 and aimed to encourage the construction of toilets, eliminate the practice of open defecation, and improve the awareness and practice of good hygiene across rural India. It utilized a combination of behavioral change campaigns, centered on the community-led total sanitation approach, and financial incentives for eligible households. The study also evaluates the incremental effects of intensive hygiene awareness campaigns in selected schools and follow-up initiatives in selected communities. The study finds that the coverage of “safely managed” toilets among households without toilets increased by 6.8–10.4 percentage points across various intervention arms, compared with a control group. Open defecation was reduced by 7.3–7.8 percentage points. The program also had significant positive impacts on hygiene awareness among adults and children, although the interventions of school campaigns and intensive follow-up were of limited additional impact.
Innovations in WASH Impact Measures: Water and Sanitation Measurement Technologies and Practices to Inform the Sustainable Development Goals
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2018) Thomas, Evan; Andrés, Luis Alberto; Borja-Vega, Christian; Sturzenegger, Germán; Thomas, Evan; Andrés, Luis Alberto; Borja-Vega, Christian; Sturzenegger, Germán; Barstow, Christina; Boateng, Kwasi; Clasen, Thomas; Fankhauser, Katie; Loughnan, Libbet; Slaymaker, Tom; Turman-Bryant, Nick
The new 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development includes water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) at its core. A dedicated Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 6) declares a commitment to “ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.” Monitoring progress toward this goal will be challenging: direct measures of water and sanitation service quality and use are either expensive or elusive. However, reliance on household surveys poses limitations and likely overstated progress during the Millennium Development Goal period. In Innovations in WASH Impact Measures: Water and Sanitation Measurement Technologies and Practices to Inform the Sustainable Development Goals, we review the landscape of proven and emerging technologies, methods, and approaches that can support and improve on the WASH indicators proposed for SDG target 6.1, “by 2030, achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all,” and target 6.2, “by 2030, achieve access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all and end open defecation, paying special attention to the needs of women and girls and those in vulnerable situations.” Although some of these technologies and methods are readily available, other promising approaches require further field evaluation and cost reductions. Emergent technologies, methods, and data-sharing platforms are increasingly aligned with program impact monitoring. Improved monitoring of water and sanitation interventions may allow more cost-effective and measurable results. In many cases, technologies and methods allow more complete and impartial data in time to allow program improvements. Of the myriad monitoring and evaluation methods, each has its own advantages and limitations. Surveys, ethnographies, and direct observation give context to more continuous and objective electronic sensor data. Overall, combined methodologies can provide a more comprehensive and instructive depiction of WASH usage and help the international development community measure our progress toward reaching the SDG WASH goals.
The Next Frontier in Water Supply Service Delivery: An Assessment of the Performance of Water Sector Service Providers in Pourashavas in Bangladesh
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-06) Bahuguna, Aroha; Andres, Luis Alberto; Joseph, George; Huq, Mainul
Using data from the International Benchmarking Network for Water and Sanitation Utilities, this paper on the water sector in pourashavas (municipalities) in Bangladesh provides an analysis of the trends in the water sector development over 2010–16. The main purpose of the paper is to examine the average performance of the water sector providers in the pourashavas to encourage conversation on identifying and addressing deficiencies in service performance in comparison with that in the rest of Bangladesh and the world. This analysis finds that although pourashavas perform on the lower end of the spectrum compared with the rest of Bangladesh on many indicators, the top 20 percent of the pourashavas are globally competitive on indicators of staff productivity, cost coverage, and daily per capita consumption of water.