IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/juipol/v43y2016ipap82-96.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Governance and efficiency in the Brazilian water utilities: A dynamic analysis in the process of universal access

Author

Listed:
  • Barbosa, Alexandro
  • Lima, Severino Cesário de
  • Brusca, Isabel

Abstract

•We analyse the effect of governance on the dynamic efficiency of water utilities.•The deficit of capital for universalization is the principal factor of the inefficiency.•The ownership type has no significant effect on efficiency.•Regulatory agency has not ensured that utilities achieve better efficiency.•Price-cap and revenue-cap regimes are associated with lower efficiencies.

Suggested Citation

  • Barbosa, Alexandro & Lima, Severino Cesário de & Brusca, Isabel, 2016. "Governance and efficiency in the Brazilian water utilities: A dynamic analysis in the process of universal access," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(PA), pages 82-96.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:juipol:v:43:y:2016:i:pa:p:82-96
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jup.2016.06.013
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0957178715301272
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jup.2016.06.013?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Corton, Maria Luisa, 2003. "Benchmarking in the Latin American water sector: the case of Peru," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 11(3), pages 133-142, September.
    2. Pointon, Charlotte & Matthews, Kent, 2016. "Dynamic efficiency in the English and Welsh water and sewerage industry," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 86-96.
    3. Isabelle Brocas & Kitty Chan & Isabelle Perrigne, 2006. "Regulation under Asymmetric Information in Water Utilities," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(2), pages 62-66, May.
    4. Ruester, Sophia & Zschille, Michael, 2010. "The impact of governance structure on firm performance: An application to the German water distribution sector," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 18(3), pages 154-162, September.
    5. Kristof De Witte & Rui Marques, 2010. "Designing performance incentives, an international benchmark study in the water sector," Central European Journal of Operations Research, Springer;Slovak Society for Operations Research;Hungarian Operational Research Society;Czech Society for Operations Research;Österr. Gesellschaft für Operations Research (ÖGOR);Slovenian Society Informatika - Section for Operational Research;Croatian Operational Research Society, vol. 18(2), pages 189-220, June.
    6. Jean-Jacques Laffont, 1996. "Privatisation et incitations," Revue Économique, Programme National Persée, vol. 47(6), pages 1239-1251.
    7. Chen Lin & Sanford Berg, 2008. "Incorporating Service Quality into Yardstick Regulation: An Application to the Peru Water Sector," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 32(1), pages 53-75, February.
    8. Bottasso, Anna & Conti, Maurizio, 2003. "Cost Inefficiency in the English and Welsh Water Industry: An Heteroskedastic Stochastic Cost Frontier Approach," Economics Discussion Papers 8872, University of Essex, Department of Economics.
    9. Wallsten, Scott & Kosec, Katrina, 2008. "The effects of ownership and benchmark competition: An empirical analysis of U.S. water systems," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 186-205, January.
    10. Zhu, Joe, 2000. "Multi-factor performance measure model with an application to Fortune 500 companies," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 123(1), pages 105-124, May.
    11. Bottasso, Anna & Conti, Maurizio, 2009. "Scale economies, technology and technical change in the water industry: Evidence from the English water only sector," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(2), pages 138-147, March.
    12. Colin Kirkpatrick & David Parker & Yin-Fang Zhang, 2006. "An Empirical Analysis of State and Private-Sector Provision of Water Services in Africa," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 20(1), pages 143-163.
    13. Rita Martins & Fernando Coelho & Adelino Fortunato, 2012. "Water losses and hydrographical regions influence on the cost structure of the Portuguese water industry," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 38(1), pages 81-94, August.
    14. Lin, Chen, 2005. "Service quality and prospects for benchmarking: Evidence from the Peru water sector," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 13(3), pages 230-239, September.
    15. Kirkpatrick, Colin & Parker, David & Zhang, Yin-Fang, 2004. "State versus Private Sector Provision of Water Services in Africa: A Statistical, DEA and Stochastic Cost Frontier Analysis," Centre on Regulation and Competition (CRC) Working papers 30604, University of Manchester, Institute for Development Policy and Management (IDPM).
    16. Tito Belchior Moreira & Geraldo da Silva Souza & Ricardo Coelho Faria, 2005. "Public Versus Private Water Utilities: Empirical Evidence for Brazilian Companies," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 8(2), pages 1-7.
    17. Anwandter, Lars & Ozuna, Teofilo Jr., 2002. "Can public sector reforms improve the efficiency of public water utilities?," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 7(4), pages 687-700, October.
    18. repec:ebl:ecbull:v:8:y:2005:i:2:p:1-7 is not listed on IDEAS
    19. E L Lynk, 1993. "Privatisation, joint production and the comparative efficiencies of private and public ownership: the UK water industry case," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 14(2), pages 98-116, May.
    20. Wanke, Peter & Barros, Carlos P. & Faria, João R., 2015. "Financial distress drivers in Brazilian banks: A dynamic slacks approach," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 240(1), pages 258-268.
    21. Barbosa, Alexandro & Brusca, Isabel, 2015. "Governance structures and their impact on tariff levels of Brazilian water and sanitation corporations," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 94-105.
    22. David Saal & David Parker & Tom Weyman-Jones, 2007. "Determining the contribution of technical change, efficiency change and scale change to productivity growth in the privatized English and Welsh water and sewerage industry: 1985–2000," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 28(1), pages 127-139, October.
    23. Cécile Aubert & Arnaud Reynaud, 2005. "The Impact of Regulation on Cost Efficiency: An Empirical Analysis of Wisconsin Water Utilities," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 23(3), pages 383-409, July.
    24. Jiro Nemoto & Mika Goto, 2003. "Measurement of Dynamic Efficiency in Production: An Application of Data Envelopment Analysis to Japanese Electric Utilities," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 19(2), pages 191-210, April.
    25. Frank A. Wolak, 1994. "An Econometric Analysis of the Asymmetric Information, Regulator-Utility Interaction," Annals of Economics and Statistics, GENES, issue 34, pages 1-12.
    26. Abbott, Malcolm & Cohen, Bruce, 2009. "Productivity and efficiency in the water industry," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 17(3-4), pages 233-244, September.
    27. Ferro, Gustavo & Lentini, Emilio J. & Mercadier, Augusto C. & Romero, Carlos A., 2014. "Efficiency in Brazil's water and sanitation sector and its relationship with regional provision, property and the independence of operators," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 42-51.
    28. Ferro, Gustavo & Romero, Carlos A. & Covelli, María Paula, 2011. "Regulation and performance: A production frontier estimate for the Latin American water and sanitation sector," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 19(4), pages 211-217.
    29. Tone, Kaoru & Tsutsui, Miki, 2010. "Dynamic DEA: A slacks-based measure approach," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 38(3-4), pages 145-156, June.
    30. Simar, Leopold & Wilson, Paul W., 2007. "Estimation and inference in two-stage, semi-parametric models of production processes," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 136(1), pages 31-64, January.
    31. Rowley, Charles K. & Yarrow, George K., 1981. "Property rights, regulation and public enterprise: The case of the British steel industry 1957-1975," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 1(1), pages 63-96, June.
    32. Tupper, Henrique Cesar & Resende, Marcelo, 2004. "Efficiency and regulatory issues in the Brazilian water and sewage sector: an empirical study," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 12(1), pages 29-40, March.
    33. Saal, David S & Parker, David, 2001. "Productivity and Price Performance in the Privatized Water and Sewerage Companies of England and Wales," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 20(1), pages 61-90, July.
    34. repec:adr:anecst:y:1994:i:34:p:02 is not listed on IDEAS
    35. K De Witte & E Dijkgraaf, 2010. "Mean and bold? On separating merger economies from structural efficiency gains in the drinking water sector," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 61(2), pages 222-234, February.
    36. Rajiv D. Banker & Ram Natarajan, 2008. "Evaluating Contextual Variables Affecting Productivity Using Data Envelopment Analysis," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 56(1), pages 48-58, February.
    37. Erbetta Fabrizio & Cave Martin, 2007. "Regulation and Efficiency Incentives: Evidence from the England and Wales Water and Sewerage Industry," Review of Network Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 6(4), pages 1-28, December.
    38. Sabbioni, Guillermo, 2008. "Efficiency in the Brazilian sanitation sector," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 16(1), pages 11-20, March.
    39. Seroa da Motta, Ronaldo & Moreira, Ajax, 2006. "Efficiency and regulation in the sanitation sector in Brazil," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 14(3), pages 185-195, September.
    40. Carvalho, Anne Emília Costa & Sampaio, Luciano Menezes Bezerra, 2015. "Paths to universalize water and sewage services in Brazil: The role of regulatory authorities in promoting efficient service," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 1-10.
    41. David S Saal & David Parker, 2000. "The impact of privatization and regulation on the water and sewerage industry in England and Wales: a translog cost function model," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 21(6), pages 253-268.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Nyathikala, Sai Amulya & Jamasb, Tooraj & Llorca, Manuel & Kulshrestha, Mukul, 2023. "Utility governance, incentives, and performance: Evidence from India's urban water sector," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    2. Bako Kinga-Erzsebet & Fulop Arpad-Zoltan, 2021. "The Efficiency Equation For Water And Wastewater Operators In Romania," Annals - Economy Series, Constantin Brancusi University, Faculty of Economics, vol. 1, pages 168-175, February.
    3. Alvaro Cavalcanti & Arthur Teixeira & Karen Pontes, 2020. "Evaluation of the Efficiency of Basic Sanitation Integrated Management in Brazilian Municipalities," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(24), pages 1-29, December.
    4. Di Vaio, Assunta & Trujillo, Lourdes & D'Amore, Gabriella & Palladino, Rosa, 2021. "Water governance models for meeting sustainable development Goals:A structured literature review," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    5. Almeida, Renan P. & Hungaro, Lucas, 2021. "Water and sanitation governance between austerity and financialization," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    6. Pedro-José Martínez-Córdoba & Nicola Raimo & Filippo Vitolla & Bernardino Benito, 2020. "Achieving Sustainable Development Goals. Efficiency in the Spanish Clean Water and Sanitation Sector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-13, April.
    7. Peci, Alketa & D’Assunção, Márcio Leite & Holperin, Michelle Moretzsohn & de Souza, Celso Florêncio, 2017. "Regulation inside government: The challenges of regulating a government-owned utility," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 61-70.
    8. Carvalho, Anne Emília Costa & Sampaio, Raquel Menezes Bezerra & Sampaio, Luciano Menezes Bezerra, 2023. "The impact of regulation on the Brazilian water and sewerage companies’ efficiency," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 87(PA).
    9. Tourinho, Marco & Santos, Paulo Rosa & Pinto, Francisco Taveira & Camanho, Ana S., 2022. "Performance assessment of water services in Brazilian municipalities: An integrated view of efficiency and access," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    10. Camos Daurella,Daniel & Estache,Antonio, 2017. "Regulating water and sanitation network services accounting for institutional and informational constraints," Policy Research Working Paper Series 8149, The World Bank.
    11. de Souza Pereira, Mariana & Magalhães Filho, Fernando Jorge Corrêa & de Morais Lima, Priscila & Tabak, Benjamin Miranda & Constantino, Michel, 2022. "Sanitation and water services: Who is the most efficient provider public or private? Evidences for Brazil," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Alexandr Akimov & Paul Simshauser, 2018. "Performance measurement in Australian water utilities: Current state and future directions," Discussion Papers in Finance finance:201802, Griffith University, Department of Accounting, Finance and Economics.
    2. Jinjin Zhao, 2020. "Productivity change in the privatized water sector in China (1999–2006)," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 53(2), pages 227-241, April.
    3. Mande Buafua, Patrick, 2015. "Efficiency of urban water supply in Sub-Saharan Africa: Do organization and regulation matter?," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 13-22.
    4. Ferro, Gustavo & Lentini, Emilio J. & Mercadier, Augusto C. & Romero, Carlos A., 2013. "Eficiencia en la prestación de agua y saneamiento y su vinculación con regiones, propiedad e independencia de los prestadores en Brasil [Efficiency in water and sanitation providers and its links w," MPRA Paper 48247, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Miguel A. García-Rubio & Francisco González-Gómez & Jorge Guardiola, 2009. "Performance and ownership in the governance of urban water," FEG Working Paper Series 09/03, Faculty of Economics and Business (University of Granada).
    6. Carvalho, Anne Emília Costa & Sampaio, Raquel Menezes Bezerra & Sampaio, Luciano Menezes Bezerra, 2023. "The impact of regulation on the Brazilian water and sewerage companies’ efficiency," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 87(PA).
    7. Walter, Matthias & Cullmann, Astrid & von Hirschhausen, Christian & Wand, Robert & Zschille, Michael, 2009. "Quo vadis efficiency analysis of water distribution? A comparative literature review," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 17(3-4), pages 225-232, September.
    8. Pointon, Charlotte & Matthews, Kent, 2016. "Dynamic efficiency in the English and Welsh water and sewerage industry," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 86-96.
    9. Ferro, Gustavo & Romero, Carlos A. & Covelli, María Paula, 2011. "Regulation and performance: A production frontier estimate for the Latin American water and sanitation sector," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 19(4), pages 211-217.
    10. Abbott, Malcolm & Cohen, Bruce, 2009. "Productivity and efficiency in the water industry," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 17(3-4), pages 233-244, September.
    11. Francisco González-Gómez & Miguel García‐Rubio & Francisco Alcalá-Olid & M. Ortega-Díaz, 2013. "Outsourcing and Efficiency in the Management of Rural Water Services," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 27(3), pages 731-747, February.
    12. Pointon, Charlotte & Matthews, Kent, 2016. "Reprint of: Dynamic efficiency in the English and Welsh water and sewerage industry," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 98-108.
    13. Picazo-Tadeo, Andrés J. & Sáez-Fernández, Francisco J. & González-Gómez, Francisco, 2008. "Assesing Performance in the Management of the Urban Water Cycle," Efficiency Series Papers 2008/01, University of Oviedo, Department of Economics, Oviedo Efficiency Group (OEG).
    14. Romano, Giulia & Molinos-Senante, María & Guerrini, Andrea, 2017. "Water utility efficiency assessment in Italy by accounting for service quality: An empirical investigation," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 97-108.
    15. Guerrini, Andrea & Romano, Giulia & Leardini, Chiara, 2018. "Economies of scale and density in the Italian water industry: A stochastic frontier approach," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 103-111.
    16. Michael Zschille, 2016. "Cost Structure and Economies of Scale in German Water Supply," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1576, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    17. Andrea Guerrini & Giulia Romano & Bettina Campedelli, 2013. "Economies of Scale, Scope, and Density in the Italian Water Sector: A Two-Stage Data Envelopment Analysis Approach," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 27(13), pages 4559-4578, October.
    18. Picazo-Tadeo, Andres J. & Saez-Fernandez, Francisco J. & Gonzalez-Gomez, Francisco, 2008. "Does service quality matter in measuring the performance of water utilities," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 16(1), pages 30-38, March.
    19. Tourinho, Marco & Santos, Paulo Rosa & Pinto, Francisco Taveira & Camanho, Ana S., 2022. "Performance assessment of water services in Brazilian municipalities: An integrated view of efficiency and access," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    20. de Souza Pereira, Mariana & Magalhães Filho, Fernando Jorge Corrêa & de Morais Lima, Priscila & Tabak, Benjamin Miranda & Constantino, Michel, 2022. "Sanitation and water services: Who is the most efficient provider public or private? Evidences for Brazil," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:juipol:v:43:y:2016:i:pa:p:82-96. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/utilities-policy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.