Publication: Decentralizing Infrastructure Services : Lessons from the East Asia Experience
Date
2007-02
ISSN
Published
2007-02
Author(s)
Elisa Muzzini
Abstract
Decentralization is the transfer of
responsibilities from the central government to subnational
agencies empowered to act as increasingly autonomous
entities within their geographical and functional domains.
In theory, decentralizing infrastructure services can
deliver efficiency gains when service benefits accrue mainly
to the local population-such as in water and sanitation,
urban transit, and waste management. Subnational agencies
are indeed better placed than the central government to
tailor infrastructure services to the needs of local
constituencies (allocative efficiency) and deliver them at
lower costs (productive efficiency). In practice, the
economic benefits of decentralized infrastructure services
are by no means a given, as they are contingent upon
effective coordination among tiers of governments (regional
coordination) and accountability mechanisms for results achieved.
Citation
“Elisa Muzzini. 2007. Decentralizing Infrastructure Services : Lessons from the East Asia Experience. Africa Region Findings & Good Practice Infobriefs; No. 271. © World Bank, Washington, DC. http://openknowledge.worldbank.org/entities/publication/1409f1e4-7622-5f5f-9add-7498b5d05fc3 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”