Overview
- Discusses the benefits and consequences of privatization of water and sewer systems in nine countries
- Includes case examples of public-private partnerships and outright sales of water companies
- Covers failed privatization efforts in Bolivia and successful municipal water administration in Uganda and Cambodia
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About this book
This book reveals all that can potentially happen when a private company takes over a local water supply system, both the good and the bad. Backed by real life stories of water privatization in action, author Manuel Schiffler presents a nuanced picture free of spin or fear mongering.
Inside, readers will find a detailed analysis of the multiple forms of water privatization, from the outright sale of companies to various forms of public-private partnerships. After covering their respective strengths and weaknesses, it then compares them to purely publicly managed water utilities.
The book examines the privatization and the public management of water and sewer utilities in twelve countries: the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, the Philippines, Cambodia, Egypt, Jordan, Uganda, Bolivia, Argentina and Cuba. Readers will come to understand how and why some utilities failed while others succeeded, including some that substantially increased access, became more efficient and improved service quality even in the poorest countries of the world.
It is natural that a private company taking over a local water supply system causes both fear and worry for consumers. With the aid of solid empirical evidence, this book argues that who manages the system is only half the story. Rather, it is the corporate culture of the utilities and the political culture of where they operate that more often than not determines performance and how well a community is served.
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Keywords
Table of contents (17 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Latin America: Two Aborted Privatizations and One That Endured
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Front Matter
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The Middle East: Reform Deadlock, with an Exception
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Front Matter
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Europe and North America: Private and Public Utilities Compared
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Front Matter
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Asia and Africa: Three Successful Utility Turnarounds, Public and Private
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Front Matter
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Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Manuel Schiffler has worked for over twenty years on water management and water utilities in more than a dozen countries in the Americas, Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia. He worked as a researcher for the German Development Institute and as a project manager at the World Bank. He now supports water projects in developing countries at the German Development Bank KfW. He holds a diploma and a doctoral degree in economics from the Free University in Berlin.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Water, Politics and Money
Book Subtitle: A Reality Check on Privatization
Authors: Manuel Schiffler
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16691-9
Publisher: Springer Cham
eBook Packages: Business and Economics, Economics and Finance (R0)
Copyright Information: Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-16690-2Published: 22 May 2015
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-319-36708-8Published: 09 October 2016
eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-16691-9Published: 11 May 2015
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XIX, 214
Number of Illustrations: 2 illustrations in colour
Topics: Popular Science in Economics, Water Policy/Water Governance/Water Management, Finance, general, Development Economics