Privatisation and Remunicipalisation of Urban Water in Catalonia: Between Monopolisation, State and the Commons

Germà Bel and Joël Bühler ()
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Joël Bühler: GiM-IREA, Universitat de Barcelona, Spain.

No 202503, IREA Working Papers from University of Barcelona, Research Institute of Applied Economics

Abstract: We study how the privatisation of urban water is being challenged in Catalonia, which has a high proportion of private management and a high degree of monopolisation in the water contract market, compared to Spain. We use detailed and up-to-date municipal data to study the dynamics of monopolisation and remunicipalisation. We find that remunicipalisation, rather than potential competition for contracts, is a remedy against monopolisation. Inter-municipal cooperation in Catalonia facilitated the implementation of remunicipalisation in smaller municipalities. In addition, we analyse the democratisation of water management following remunicipalisation and find that progress was modest, both in Catalonia and in Spain.

Keywords: Privatisation; Monopolisation; Remunicipalisation; Cooperation; Democratisation; Commons. JEL classification: B50, D42, H42, L33. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 28 pages
Date: 2025-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-com, nep-env, nep-hme, nep-mac and nep-reg
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ira:wpaper:202503

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