A Primer on Efficiency Measurement for Utilities and Transport Regulators


Book Description

Annotation Options and guidelines for measuring the efficiency of recently privatized utilities (electricity, gas, water, sewerage, telecommunications, airports, ports, rail).




Current Issues of Water Management


Book Description

There is an estimated 1.4 billion km3 of water in the world but only approximately three percent (39 million km3) of it is available as fresh water. Moreover, most of this fresh water is found as ice in the arctic regions, deep groundwater or atmospheric water. Since water is the source of life and essential for all life on the planet, the use of this resource is a highly important issue. "Water management" is the general term used to describe all the activities that manage the optimum use of the world's water resources. However, only a few percent of the fresh water available can be subjected to water management. It is still an enormous amount, but what's unique about water is that unlike other resources, it is irreplaceable. This book provides a general overview of various topics within water management from all over the world. The topics range from politics, current models for water resource management of rivers and reservoirs to issues related to agriculture. Water quality problems, the development of water demand and water pricing are also addressed. The collection of contributions from outstanding scientists and experts provides detailed information about different topics and gives a general overview of the current issues in water management. The book covers a wide range of current issues, reflecting on current problems and demonstrating the complexity of water management.




The Case for International Coordination of Electricity Regulation


Book Description

Abstract: A decade long experience shows that monitoring the performance of public and private monopolies in South America is proving to be the hard part of the reform process. The operators who control most of the information needed for regulatory purposes have little interest in volunteering their dissemination unless they have an incentive to do so. Estache, Rossi, and Ruzzier argue that, in spite of, and maybe because of, a much weaker information base and governance structure, South America's electricity sector could pursue an approach that relies on performance rankings based on comparative efficiency measures. The authors show that with the rather modest data currently available publicly, such an approach could yield useful results. They provide estimates of efficiency levels in South America's main distribution companies between 1994 and 2000. Moreover, the authors show how relatively simple tests can be used by regulators to check the robustness of their results and strengthen their position at regulatory hearings. This paper"a joint product of the Governance, Regulation, and Finance Division, World Bank Institute, and the Finance, Private Sector, and Infrastructure Unit, Latin America and the Caribbean Region"is part of a larger effort in the institute to increase understanding of infrastructure regulation.




Regulatory Economics and Quantitative Methods


Book Description

Regulatory Economics and Quantitative Methods comprises original contributions by leading researchers working on issues relating to regulation in Latin America. They focus on regulation in infrastructure industries and attempt to show how quantitative analysis can contribute to more effective regulation. In particular, they discuss central issues relating to the measures used for benchmarking natural monopolies, incentives and contractual arrangements used in the regulatory environment and the impact of regulation and regulatory processes.




Energy, Environment and Transitional Green Growth in China


Book Description

This book discusses energy use and its environmental footprint in China, as well as issues concerning the transitional green growth of its economy, a subject of great importance in light of China’s size and its impressive record of economic growth. The book includes expert overviews and empirical studies prepared by internationally recognized experts in the field. The empirical techniques utilized by the contributors include econometrics, mathematical programming, and index numbers. The book will provide readers a deeper understanding of the energy and environmental issues China now faces during its transitional growth period, and of the strategies available for resolving these issues. The 2016 Asia-Pacific Productivity Conference, held in Nankai University, Tianjin China from July 7-10, was organized by Nankai University’s College of Economic and Social Development (CESD) in collaboration with the School of Economics Nankai University and Collaborative Innovation Center for China Economy. The primary objective of the event was to highlight the latest developments in efficiency and productivity research.




International Encyclopedia of Transportation


Book Description

In an increasingly globalised world, despite reductions in costs and time, transportation has become even more important as a facilitator of economic and human interaction; this is reflected in technical advances in transportation systems, increasing interest in how transportation interacts with society and the need to provide novel approaches to understanding its impacts. This has become particularly acute with the impact that Covid-19 has had on transportation across the world, at local, national and international levels. Encyclopedia of Transportation, Seven Volume Set - containing almost 600 articles - brings a cross-cutting and integrated approach to all aspects of transportation from a variety of interdisciplinary fields including engineering, operations research, economics, geography and sociology in order to understand the changes taking place. Emphasising the interaction between these different aspects of research, it offers new solutions to modern-day problems related to transportation. Each of its nine sections is based around familiar themes, but brings together the views of experts from different disciplinary perspectives. Each section is edited by a subject expert who has commissioned articles from a range of authors representing different disciplines, different parts of the world and different social perspectives. The nine sections are structured around the following themes: Transport Modes; Freight Transport and Logistics; Transport Safety and Security; Transport Economics; Traffic Management; Transport Modelling and Data Management; Transport Policy and Planning; Transport Psychology; Sustainability and Health Issues in Transportation. Some articles provide a technical introduction to a topic whilst others provide a bridge between topics or a more future-oriented view of new research areas or challenges. The end result is a reference work that offers researchers and practitioners new approaches, new ways of thinking and novel solutions to problems. All-encompassing and expertly authored, this outstanding reference work will be essential reading for all students and researchers interested in transportation and its global impact in what is a very uncertain world. Provides a forward looking and integrated approach to transportation Updated with future technological impacts, such as self-driving vehicles, cyber-physical systems and big data analytics Includes comprehensive coverage Presents a worldwide approach, including sets of comparative studies and applications




Water Utility Benchmarking


Book Description

Benchmarking is essential for those developing and implementing water policy. If decision-makers do not know where they have been or where they are, it would seem to be impossible to set reasonable targets for future performance. Information on water/sewerage system (WSS) operations, investments, and outputs is essential for good management and oversight. This book is designed to help decision makers identify the data required for performance comparisons over time and across water utilities, to understand the strengths and limitations of alternative benchmarking methodologies, and to perform (or commission) benchmark studies. This book provides an overview of the strengths and limitations of different methodologies for making performance comparisons over time and across water utilities (metric benchmarking). In addition, it identifies ways to determine the robustness of performance rankings. Current benchmarking activities in Latin America, Asia, Africa, Central Europe/Asia, and OECD nations are summarized. Five basic approaches to benchmarking characterize current studies: Core indicators and a summary or overall performance Indicator (partial metric method), Performance scores based on production or cost estimates (“total” methods), Performance relative to a model company (engineering approach), Process benchmarking, and Customer survey benchmarking. This volume is of interest to the water professionals, water utility managers and senior staff of regulatory agencies, professionals in related government agencies, and consultants. Visit the IWA WaterWiki to read and share material related to this title: http://www.iwawaterwiki.org/xwiki/bin/view/Articles/InfrastructureRegulationStateOwnedEnterprisesVsInvestor-ownedInfrastructureOperators







Benchmarking with DEA, SFA, and R


Book Description

This book covers recent advances in efficiency evaluations, most notably Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA) methods. It introduces the underlying theories, shows how to make the relevant calculations and discusses applications. The aim is to make the reader aware of the pros and cons of the different methods and to show how to use these methods in both standard and non-standard cases. Several software packages have been developed to solve some of the most common DEA and SFA models. This book relies on R, a free, open source software environment for statistical computing and graphics. This enables the reader to solve not only standard problems, but also many other problem variants. Using R, one can focus on understanding the context and developing a good model. One is not restricted to predefined model variants and to a one-size-fits-all approach. To facilitate the use of R, the authors have developed an R package called Benchmarking, which implements the main methods within both DEA and SFA. The book uses mathematical formulations of models and assumptions, but it de-emphasizes the formal proofs - in part by placing them in appendices -- or by referring to the original sources. Moreover, the book emphasizes the usage of the theories and the interpretations of the mathematical formulations. It includes a series of small examples, graphical illustrations, simple extensions and questions to think about. Also, it combines the formal models with less formal economic and organizational thinking. Last but not least it discusses some larger applications with significant practical impacts, including the design of benchmarking-based regulations of energy companies in different European countries, and the development of merger control programs for competition authorities.




Airport Economics in Latin America and the Caribbean


Book Description

Traditionally, air transport infrastructure in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) was exclusively under government ownership and management. Starting in the late 1990s, several Latin American countries implemented innovative public-private partnerships (PPP) that transferred the financing and management of air transport sector infrastructure to the private sector. This book presents the findings of a first-ever, comprehensive study of how LAC region airports have evolved during this notable period of transition in airport ownership. It is an unbiased, positive analysis of what happened, rather than a normative analysis of what should be done to reform the airport sector or to attract private participation. It takes the first step in response to the need for more conclusive information about the influence of airport ownership on economic performance. The book is centered around the study of three dimensions of performance: productive efficiency, institutional set up for the governance of the sector, and financing of airport PPPs. Using rigorous analytical tools, this book answer a series of key questions to evaluate the introduction of private sector participation in the Latin American airport sector: Are LAC airports technically efficient? How has efficiency evolved in the last decade? Are privately-run airports more efficient than state-operated airports? How do independent regulators compare with government agencies in accountability, transparency, and autonomy? How has the level and structure of aeronautical tariffs changed in recent years? The main audience of this book are air transport practitioners, transport regulators, decisionmakers in transport ministries, and PPP units and academics.