IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/waterr/v31y2017i1d10.1007_s11269-016-1519-z.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Influence of the Regulatory Environment on Chinese Urban Water Utilities

Author

Listed:
  • Fan Li

    (Shenzhen University)

  • Michelle Andrea Phillips

    (University of Florida)

Abstract

China is currently facing water scarcity issues, which can partially be relieved with improvements in efficiency in its urban water supply sector. Using a manually collected utility-level dataset for 2009–13, we examine the performance of Chinese urban water utilities, taking into account their regulatory environment. Our main findings are that: (1) an increase in the number of non-technical staff does not increase output levels, while an increase in the number of technical staff, length of pipe or electricity usage can increase output; (2) customer density and non-household user rates are associated with lower levels of inefficiency (or higher levels of measured efficiency), while outsourcing staff rate, non-revenue water rate, and average piped water pressure do not significantly affect efficiency. These results suggest that Chinese urban water utilities can be improved through performance-based regulation and incentives that take into account environmental factors of utilities.

Suggested Citation

  • Fan Li & Michelle Andrea Phillips, 2017. "The Influence of the Regulatory Environment on Chinese Urban Water Utilities," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 31(1), pages 205-218, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:waterr:v:31:y:2017:i:1:d:10.1007_s11269-016-1519-z
    DOI: 10.1007/s11269-016-1519-z
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11269-016-1519-z
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11269-016-1519-z?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. Steven Renzetti & Diane P. Dupont, 2009. "Measuring the Technical Efficiency of Municipal Water Suppliers: The Role of Environmental Factors," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 85(4), pages 627-636.
    2. Byrnes, Joel & Crase, Lin & Dollery, Brian & Villano, Renato, 2010. "The relative economic efficiency of urban water utilities in regional New South Wales and Victoria," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 439-455, August.
    3. Denis Nitikin & Chunli Shen & Qian Wang & Heng-fu Zou, 2012. "Water Service Delivery Reform in China: Safeguarding the Interests of the Poor," Annals of Economics and Finance, Society for AEF, vol. 13(2), pages 463-487, November.
    4. Fumitoshi Mizutani & Takuya Urakami, 2001. "articles: Identifying network density and scale economies for Japanese water supply organizations," Papers in Regional Science, Springer;Regional Science Association International, vol. 80(2), pages 211-230.
    5. Hefa Cheng & Yuanan Hu, 2012. "Improving China’s water resources management for better adaptation to climate change," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 112(2), pages 253-282, May.
    6. Timothy J. Coelli & D.S. Prasada Rao & Christopher J. O’Donnell & George E. Battese, 2005. "An Introduction to Efficiency and Productivity Analysis," Springer Books, Springer, edition 0, number 978-0-387-25895-9, September.
    7. Antonioli, B. & Filippini, M., 2001. "The use of a variable cost function in the regulation of the Italian water industry," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 10(3-4), pages 181-187.
    8. Wang, Hongwei & Wu, Wenqing & Zheng, Shilin, 2011. "An econometric analysis of private sector participation in China’s urban water supply," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 134-141.
    9. Meeusen, Wim & van den Broeck, J, 1977. "Technical Efficiency and Dimension of the Firm: Some Results on the Use of Frontier Production Functions," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 2(2), pages 109-122.
    10. Hailiang Ma & Chenling Shi & Nan-Ting Chou, 2016. "China’s Water Utilization Efficiency: An Analysis with Environmental Considerations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(6), pages 1-15, May.
    11. Andres Picazo-Tadeo & Francisco Saez-Fernandez & Francisco Gonzalez-Gomez, 2009. "The role of environmental factors in water utilities' technical efficiency. Empirical evidence from Spanish companies," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(5), pages 615-628.
    12. Michelle Phillips, 2013. "Inefficiency in Japanese water utility firms: a stochastic frontier approach," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 44(2), pages 197-214, October.
    13. Hung-jen Wang & Peter Schmidt, 2002. "One-Step and Two-Step Estimation of the Effects of Exogenous Variables on Technical Efficiency Levels," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 18(2), pages 129-144, September.
    14. Yi Jiang & Xiaoting Zheng, 2014. "Private Sector Participation and Performance of Urban Water Utilities in China," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 63(1), pages 155-189.
    15. Lijin Zhong & Arthur Mol, 2010. "Water Price Reforms in China: Policy-Making and Implementation," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 24(2), pages 377-396, January.
    16. Greg J. Browder, 2007. "Stepping Up : Improving the Performance of China's Urban Water Utilities," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 6833, December.
    17. Jiang , Yi & Zheng, Xiaoting, 2010. "Private Sector Participation and Performance of Urban Water Utilities in the People's Republic of China," ADB Economics Working Paper Series 237, Asian Development Bank.
    18. 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.
    19. Battese, G E & Coelli, T J, 1995. "A Model for Technical Inefficiency Effects in a Stochastic Frontier Production Function for Panel Data," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 20(2), pages 325-332.
    20. Aigner, Dennis & Lovell, C. A. Knox & Schmidt, Peter, 1977. "Formulation and estimation of stochastic frontier production function models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 6(1), pages 21-37, July.
    21. 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.
    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. Maria Molinos-Senante & Alexandros Maziotis, 2022. "Decomposition of Cost Efficiency Into Persistent and Transient Efficiency in the Provision of Water Services: Evidence from England and Wales," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 36(6), pages 1849-1862, April.
    2. Molinos-Senante, María & Villegas, Andres & Maziotis, Alexandros, 2019. "Are water tariffs sufficient incentives to reduce water leakages? An empirical approach for Chile," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    3. María Molinos-Senante & Simon Porcher & Alexandros Maziotis, 2018. "Productivity change and its drivers for the Chilean water companies: A comparison of full private and concessionary companies," Post-Print hal-02145824, HAL.
    4. Alexandros Maziotis & Ramon Sala-Garrido & Manuel Mocholi-Arce & Maria Molinos-Senante, 2021. "Changes to The Productivity of Water Companies: Comparison of Fully Private and Concessionary Water Companies," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 35(10), pages 3355-3371, August.

    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. Li, Fan & Phillips, Michelle, 2016. "The Influence Of Regulation And The Operational Environment On Chinese Urban Water Utilities," 2016 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Boston, Massachusetts 235160, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    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. Michelle Phillips, 2013. "Inefficiency in Japanese water utility firms: a stochastic frontier approach," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 44(2), pages 197-214, October.
    4. Mellah, Thuraya & Ben Amor, Tawfik, 2016. "Performance of the Tunisian Water Utility: An input-distance function approach," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 18-32.
    5. 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.
    6. 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.
    7. 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.
    8. 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.
    9. Narangerel Ganbold & Shah Fahad & Hua Li & Tumendemberel Gungaa, 2022. "An evaluation of subsidy policy impacts, transient and persistent technical efficiency: A case of Mongolia," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(7), pages 9223-9242, July.
    10. Anne-Kathrin Faust & Andrea Baranzini, 2014. "The economic performance of Swiss drinking water utilities," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 41(3), pages 383-397, June.
    11. Hung-Jen Wang, 2002. "Heteroscedasticity and Non-Monotonic Efficiency Effects of a Stochastic Frontier Model," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 18(3), pages 241-253, November.
    12. Farsi, Mehdi & Filippini, Massimo, 2009. "An analysis of cost efficiency in Swiss multi-utilities," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 306-315, March.
    13. 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).
    14. Papadopoulos, Alecos & Parmeter, Christopher F., 2021. "Type II failure and specification testing in the Stochastic Frontier Model," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 293(3), pages 990-1001.
    15. Nguyen, Hoa-Thi-Minh & Do, Huong & Kompas, Tom, 2021. "Economic efficiency versus social equity: The productivity challenge for rice production in a ‘greying’ rural Vietnam," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    16. Gralka, Sabine, 2018. "Stochastic frontier analysis in higher education: A systematic review," CEPIE Working Papers 05/18, Technische Universität Dresden, Center of Public and International Economics (CEPIE).
    17. Goh, Kim Huat & See, Kok Fong, 2023. "Incorporating nonrevenue water in the efficiency assessment of water supply utilities: A parametric enhanced hyperbolic distance function," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    18. Graziella Bonanno & Annalisa Ferrando & Stefania Patrizia Sonia Rossi, 2023. "Do innovation and financial constraints affect the profit efficiency of European enterprises?," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 13(1), pages 57-86, March.
    19. Romano, Giulia & Guerrini, Andrea, 2011. "Measuring and comparing the efficiency of water utility companies: A data envelopment analysis approach," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 202-209.
    20. Galluzzo Nicola, 2020. "A Technical Efficiency Analysis of Financial Subsidies Allocated by the Cap in Romanian Farms Using Stochastic Frontier Analysis," European Countryside, Sciendo, vol. 12(4), pages 494-505, December.

    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:spr:waterr:v:31:y:2017:i:1:d:10.1007_s11269-016-1519-z. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.