In this paper we estimate a variable cost function to analyze cost economies and technical change in the English water only sector over the 1995-2005 period. We jointly model the impact on costs of output, customer numbers and area size which allows us to consider both the vertical and horizontal (spatial) dimensions of water utilities' operations. Estimates suggest the existence of unexploited economies of output and customer density and small scale economies which appear to be increasing with population density. These findings suggest that moderate cost savings from prudent mergers could be expected; in particular, benefits of merging water utilities might be higher in more densely populated urban areas. Finally, technical change is found to be increasing over the sample period.
Download Info
To download:
If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the
proper application to
view it first. Information about this may be contained
in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read
the IDEAS help
page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS
site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version under "Related research" (further below) or search for a different version of it.
Volume (Year): 39 (2009) Issue (Month): 2 (March) Pages: 138-147 Download reference. The following formats are available: HTML
(with abstract),
plain text
(with abstract),
BibTeX,
RIS (EndNote, RefMan, ProCite),
ReDIF