The “social choice” of privatising urban water services: a case study of Madrid in Spain

Alberto Ruiz-Villaverde, Andres Picazo-Tadeo and Francisco González-Gómez

No 1322, Working Papers from Department of Applied Economics II, Universidad de Valencia

Abstract: In countries where privatisation is permitted by law, policymakersusually give different reasons of general interest to allow private companies tomanage water services. However, these kinds of decisions often provoke intensepolitical debate and are at times opposed by citizens. In this paper, we illustratehow Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) techniques can be used to analyse therationality of complex decisions regarding the management of water services. As acase study, we analyse the recent decision taken by the Regional Government ofMadrid (Spain) to part-privatise the management of water services by introducing aprivate partner. In doing so, we use information from a questionnaire completed bya panel of five experts in water management, including both scholars andprofessionals. The results raise doubts about the rationality of the decision toprivatise water services in Madrid. Rather than social interest, other reasons may bebehind the decision, such as satisfying private interests whilst continuing to takeadvantage of maintaining public institution status.

JEL-codes: C61 H83 L33 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 28 pages
Date: 2013-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-nps and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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http://repecsrv.uv.es/paper/RePEc/pdf/eec_1322.pdf First version, 2013 (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: The ‘social choice’ of privatising urban water services: A case study of Madrid in Spain (2015)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eec:wpaper:1322

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