Does local public ownership matter for the efficiency of water utilities? Evidence from Italy

Meryem Duygun (), Silvia Pazzi (), Emili Tortosa-Ausina and Simona Zambelli ()
Additional contact information
Meryem Duygun: Business School, Hull University, UK
Silvia Pazzi: School of Management, University of Leicester, UK
Simona Zambelli: Dipartimento di Scienze Aziendali, Università di Bologna, Italy

No 2014/21, Working Papers from Economics Department, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón (Spain)

Abstract: This study explores the impact of ownership types on efficiency of Italian water utilities. Theories and evidence have shown a puzzling relationship between ownership and performance. Moreover, a recent study argues that this relationship can be further complicated by the effect of organisational and environmental variables. The current study aims to contribute to the debate about the impact of ownership structure on efficiency by including the effect of size and geographical location combining efficiency (obtained via nonparametric methods) with cluster analysis. The results show that ownership does not have a significant effect on efficiency per se; however the combination of size and geographical location provides interesting insights on the difference observed in the efficiency. Therefore, the paper argues that administrative reforms for institutional settings should consider a set of variables that characterise each organisation.

Keywords: efficiency; water utilities; ownership; size; geographical location (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H4 H7 H83 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 37 pages
Date: 2014
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cse, nep-eff, nep-eur, nep-hme, nep-pbe and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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