Kirkpatrick, ColinParker, DavidZhang, Yin-Fang2014-01-022014-01-022006-01-19World Bank Economic Reviewdoi:10.1093/wber/lhj001https://hdl.handle.net/10986/16465Under pressure from donor agencies and international financial institutions such as the World Bank, some developing countries have experimented with the privatization of water services. This article reviews the econometric evidence on the effects of water privatization in developing economies and presents new results using statistical data envelopment analysis and stochastic cost frontier techniques and data from Africa. The analysis fails to show evidence of better performance by private utilities than by state owned utilities. Among the reasons why water privatization could prove problematic in lower-income economies are the technology of water provision and the nature of the product, transaction costs, and regulatory weaknesses.en-USCC BY-NC-ND 3.0 IGOACCESS TO SAFE DRINKING WATERADEQUATE SANITATIONAFFORDABLE WATERAVERAGE PERFORMANCEBENCHMARKINGBREWINGCAPACITY BUILDINGCAPITAL COSTSCAPITAL EXPENDITURECHILD MORTALITYCLEAN WATERCOLLUSIONCOMPANYCONCESSION AGREEMENTCONCESSION CONTRACTSCONSTRUCTIONCONTAMINATED WATERCONTRACT RENEGOTIATIONCOST RECOVERYCOSTS OF CAPITALCUBIC METERCUBIC METERSCUBIC METERS OF WATERCUSTOMER SERVICEDOMESTIC CONSUMERSEFFICIENCY SCORESELECTRICITY SECTORELECTRICITY SECTOR REFORMEMPIRICAL ANALYSISENERGY SUPPLYENVIRONMENTAL IMPLICATIONSENVIRONMENTAL OBJECTIVESEXPANSIONFINANCIAL INSTITUTIONSFIXED COSTSFRONTIER ANALYSISFRONTIER ESTIMATIONFRONTIER PRODUCTIONFRONTIER PRODUCTION FUNCTION MODELSFRONTIER RESULTSGOOD GOVERNANCEGOOD REGULATORY REGIMEHOUSEHOLDSIMPACT OF REGULATIONINFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENTINFRASTRUCTURE PRIVATIZATIONINFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTSINFRASTRUCTURE SECTORSINFRASTRUCTURE SERVICESLEASINGLONG-TERM CONCESSIONMAINTENANCE COSTSNUMBER OF CONNECTIONSOPERATING COSTSOPERATIONAL COSTSPERFORMANCE EVALUATIONPERFORMANCE INDICATORSPIPED WATERPOOR HOUSEHOLDSPRIVATE CAPITALPRIVATE ENTERPRISESPRIVATE FIRMSPRIVATE INVESTMENTPRIVATE INVESTMENT IN WATERPRIVATE INVESTORSPRIVATE OPERATORSPRIVATE OWNERSHIPPRIVATE PARTICIPATIONPRIVATE SECTORPRIVATE SECTOR PARTICIPATIONPRIVATE UTILITIESPRIVATE WATERPRIVATE WATER COMPANIESPRIVATE WATER SERVICESPRIVATE WATER SUPPLIERSPRIVATE WATER UTILITIESPRIVATISATIONPRIVATISATION PROCESSPRIVATIZATIONPRIVATIZATION PROCESSPROPERTY RIGHTSPROVISION OF WATERPUBLIC OWNERSHIPPUBLIC SERVICESPUBLIC WATERQUALITY OF SERVICEQUALITY OF WATERQUALITY STANDARDSREGULATING WATER CONCESSIONSREGULATION DUMMYREGULATION OF PRICESREGULATORSREGULATORY ANALYSISREGULATORY CAPACITYREGULATORY ENVIRONMENTREGULATORY INDICATORSREGULATORY SYSTEMSREGULATORY VARIABLESROADSSAFE WATERSAFE WATER SUPPLYSANITATION CONCESSIONSANITATION PROVIDERSSANITATION SERVICESSERVICE CONTRACTSSERVICE PROVIDERSSERVICE PROVISIONSERVICE QUALITYSTATE ENTERPRISESSTATE WATERTARIFF REGULATIONTECHNICAL EFFICIENCYTECHNICAL SUPPORTTOTAL COSTSTRANSACTION COSTSTRANSFER SCHEMESTRANSLOGURBAN AREASURBAN WATERURBAN WATER SYSTEMUSE OF WATERVARIABLE RETURNSVENDORSVOLUME OF WATERWASTEWATERWASTEWATER SECTORWATER ASSOCIATIONWATER BUSINESSESWATER CHARGESWATER COMPANIESWATER CONSUMPTIONWATER ENTERPRISESWATER FACILITIESWATER INDUSTRYWATER LOSSESWATER METERINGWATER PRIVATIZATIONWATER PRODUCTIONWATER PROJECTSWATER PROVISIONWATER QUALITYWATER REGULATIONWATER RESOURCEWATER RESOURCESWATER SECTORWATER SERVICESWATER SUPPLIESWATER SUPPLYWATER SUPPLY INDUSTRYWATER SYSTEMWATER SYSTEMSWATER TREATMENTWATER TREATMENT PLANTSWATER UTILITIESWATER UTILITYJournal ArticleWorld Bank10.1596/16465