Private versus public provision of water services: does ownership matter for utility efficiency?

Research Article| November 01 2002 Private versus public provision of water services: does ownership matter for utility efficiency? Okke Braadbaart Okke Braadbaart 1Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies, P.O. Box 1935, 3000BX Rotterdam, The Netherlands Tel: 0031-(0)10-4021567 Fax: 0031-(0)10-4045671; E-mail: O.Braadbaart@ihs.nl Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Journal of Water Supply: Research and Technology-Aqua (2002) 51 (7): 375–388. https://doi.org/10.2166/aqua.2002.0034 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Share Icon Share Twitter LinkedIn Tools Icon Tools Cite Icon Cite Permissions Search Site Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentAll JournalsThis Journal Search Advanced Search Citation Okke Braadbaart; Private versus public provision of water services: does ownership matter for utility efficiency?. Journal of Water Supply: Research and Technology-Aqua 1 November 2002; 51 (7): 375–388. doi: https://doi.org/10.2166/aqua.2002.0034 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex Property rights theory posits that private firms are more efficiently managed than government enterprises. An important rationale for privatization, these ownership effects are ascribed to the fact that private firms, contrary to government enterprises, face competitive markets for capital and property rights. This article reviews a substantial body of water industry evidence on ownership effects and finds that ownership effects are neither independent nor overwhelming. Private water utilities are not more efficient than their public counterparts. Water utility privatizations sometimes produce efficiency gains but not always. Methodological shortcomings of published empirical work make it difficult to assess why this is so. For policy makers, the tentative conclusion to be drawn from this literature is that a change from public to private management will only yield benefits when accompanied by a comprehensive reform of the utility's external environment. efficiency, ownership, privatization, water utilities This content is only available as a PDF.