Fragmentation, Scale, and Management: Determinants of Public Spending Efficiency in Colombia's Water and Sanitation Sector

María Pérez Urdiales, Andrea López-Luzuriaga, Adriana Castillo and Beatriz Couto Ribeiro

No 14276, IDB Publications (Working Papers) from Inter-American Development Bank

Abstract: Achieving universal and equitable access to water and sanitation remains a critical challenge in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). This paper assesses the efficiency of public spending in providing water and sanitation services across Colombian municipalities. Efficiency levels are estimated using a stochastic frontier analysis that accounts for unobserved heterogeneity. The results show that the organizational and governance characteristics of service providers play a significant role in shaping spending efficiency. Municipalities with more service providers tend to be less efficient. In contrast, efficiency improves when providers operate across multiple jurisdictions. Additionally, municipalities where the head of the service provider is appointed--rather than elected--demonstrate greater efficiency. Overall, the findings indicate that public expenditures could be reduced by approximately 18\% without compromising service quality, highlighting the potential for substantial gains through improved provider organization and governance.

Keywords: water; Sanitation; fiscal management; public spending; Public Expenditure Review (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H42 H54 H72 L95 O54 Q25 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-09
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://publications.iadb.org/publications/english ... anitation-Sector.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:idb:brikps:14276

DOI: 10.18235/0013721

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in IDB Publications (Working Papers) from Inter-American Development Bank Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Felipe Herrera Library ().