Publication: Designing Direct Subsidies for the Poor : A Water and Sanitation Case Study
Date
2000-06
ISSN
Published
2000-06
Author(s)
Abstract
Direct subsidies are an increasingly
popular means of making infrastructure services more
affordable to the poor. Under the direct subsidy approach,
governments pay part of the water bill of poor households
that meet certain criteria. This approach was first used in
water sector reforms in Chile in the early 1990s and is an
alternative to the traditional method in which governments
pay subsidies directly to utilities, often allowing the
price of water to fall below economic costs
indiscriminately. This Note illustrates how simulation
techniques can be used to inform the design of direct
subsidy schemes, ensuring that they are both cost-effective
and accurate in reaching the target population.
Citation
“Foster, Vivien; Gómez-Lobos, Andrés; Halpern, Jonathan. 2000. Designing Direct Subsidies for the Poor : A Water and Sanitation Case Study. Viewpoint. © World Bank, Washington, DC. http://openknowledge.worldbank.org/entities/publication/f23992b8-13f5-501e-8615-915122162abb License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
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