Water and Sanitation Utilities in the Global South: Re-centering the Debate on “Efficiencyâ€

Susan Spronk
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Susan Spronk: University of Ottawa, Ottawa, CANADA, susan.spronk@uottawa.ca

Review of Radical Political Economics, 2010, vol. 42, issue 2, 156-174

Abstract: This paper assesses the ideological arguments that sustain the belief that the private sector is more efficient than the public, which persist despite ambiguous empirical evidence. It argues that the privatization agenda rests on normative assumptions about “economic efficiency†that fail to adequately address the social goals of water and sanitation provision. The debate on “efficiency†should therefore be re-centered to consider “social efficiency†and the negative effect that privatization has on citizenship rights. JEL codes: A13, N70, Q25

Keywords: privatization; efficiency; developing countries; urban water supply; unions (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:reorpe:v:42:y:2010:i:2:p:156-174

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