Reforming Infrastructure

Reforming Infrastructure PDF Author: Ioannis Nicolaos Kessides
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 328

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Book Description
Electricity, natural gas, telecommunications, railways, and water supply, are often vertically and horizontally integrated state monopolies. This results in weak services, especially in developing and transition economies, and for poor people. Common problems include low productivity, high costs, bad quality, insufficient revenue, and investment shortfalls. Many countries over the past two decades have restructured, privatized and regulated their infrastructure. This report identifies the challenges involved in this massive policy redirection. It also assesses the outcomes of these changes, as well as their distributional consequences for poor households and other disadvantaged groups. It recommends directions for future reforms and research to improve infrastructure performance, identifying pricing policies that strike a balance between economic efficiency and social equity, suggesting rules governing access to bottleneck infrastructure facilities, and proposing ways to increase poor people's access to these crucial services.

Reforming Infrastructure

Reforming Infrastructure PDF Author: Ioannis Nicolaos Kessides
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 328

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Book Description
Electricity, natural gas, telecommunications, railways, and water supply, are often vertically and horizontally integrated state monopolies. This results in weak services, especially in developing and transition economies, and for poor people. Common problems include low productivity, high costs, bad quality, insufficient revenue, and investment shortfalls. Many countries over the past two decades have restructured, privatized and regulated their infrastructure. This report identifies the challenges involved in this massive policy redirection. It also assesses the outcomes of these changes, as well as their distributional consequences for poor households and other disadvantaged groups. It recommends directions for future reforms and research to improve infrastructure performance, identifying pricing policies that strike a balance between economic efficiency and social equity, suggesting rules governing access to bottleneck infrastructure facilities, and proposing ways to increase poor people's access to these crucial services.

Privatization in Latin America

Privatization in Latin America PDF Author: World Bank
Publisher: World Bank
ISBN: 9780821358825
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 506

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Book Description
This publication examines the empirical evidence on the privatisation measures introduced in the Latin American region since the 1980s, in light of recent criticisms of the record of privatisation and allegations of corruption, abuse of market power and neglect of the poor. It includes case studies on the privatisation debate in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru; and sets out recommendations for future reforms.

Privatization and Deregulation

Privatization and Deregulation PDF Author: Sidhu
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9401145830
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 230

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Book Description
Agribusiness development has been constrained by distorted economic policies and institutional controls in the emerging market economies and in most of the developing countries. In the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, the agribusiness complex was dominated by state-owned enter prises. In many of the developing countries, economic policies discriminated against agriculture and agribusiness. The results have been obvious. Despite major technological advances, agriculture and agribusiness sectors in these economies remained inefficient. A large share of the population, particu larly in the rural areas, has not been able to improve household incomes and living standards. The final decade of the 20th century will certainly be recorded as one of the most dynamic in modem history. The restructuring of the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe and market reforms in many of the developing countries are progressing at a rapid pace. Agribusiness is key to economic perfor mance in these areas in that agriculture is an important sector in many of these economies. Economic transition to a market economy is presenting many challenges and opportunities to accelerate the process of agribusiness development, which is so essential to alleviate rural poverty. An international symposium, organized by the International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC), provided a unique opportunity to discuss needed policy reforms to promote efficient and competitive agribusiness develop ment, with a particular focus on privatization and deregulation.

Bureaucrats in Business

Bureaucrats in Business PDF Author:
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 9780195211061
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 370

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Book Description
Refer review of this policy book in 'Journal of International Development, vol. 10, 7, 1998. pp.841-855.

The Inclusionary Turn in Latin American Democracies

The Inclusionary Turn in Latin American Democracies PDF Author: Diana Kapiszewski
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 110890159X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 587

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Book Description
Latin American states took dramatic steps toward greater inclusion during the late twentieth and early twenty-first Centuries. Bringing together an accomplished group of scholars, this volume examines this shift by introducing three dimensions of inclusion: official recognition of historically excluded groups, access to policymaking, and resource redistribution. Tracing the movement along these dimensions since the 1990s, the editors argue that the endurance of democratic politics, combined with longstanding social inequalities, create the impetus for inclusionary reforms. Diverse chapters explore how factors such as the role of partisanship and electoral clientelism, constitutional design, state capacity, social protest, populism, commodity rents, international diffusion, and historical legacies encouraged or inhibited inclusionary reform during the late 1990s and early 2000s. Featuring original empirical evidence and a strong theoretical framework, the book considers cross-national variation, delves into the surprising paradoxes of inclusion, and identifies the obstacles hindering further fundamental change.

The Oxford Handbook of Populism

The Oxford Handbook of Populism PDF Author: Cristóbal Rovira Kaltwasser
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0198803567
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 737

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Book Description
The Oxford Handbook of Populism presents the state of the art of research on populism from the perspective of Political Science. The book features work from the leading experts in the field, and synthesizes the main strands of research in four compact sections: concepts, issues, regions, and normative debates. Due to its breath, The Oxford Handbook of Populism is an invaluable resource for those interested in the study of populism, but also forexperts in each of the topics discussed, who will benefit from accounts of current discussions and research gaps, as well as a map of new directions in the study of populism.

Privatizing Russia

Privatizing Russia PDF Author: Maxim Boycko
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 9780262522281
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 180

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Book Description
Privatizing Russia offers an inside look at one of the most remarkable reforms in recent history. Having started on the back burner of Russian politics in the fall of 1991, mass privatization was completed on July 1, 1994, with two thirds of the Russian industry privately owned, a rapidly rising stock market, and 40 million Russians owning company shares. The authors, all key participants in the reform effort, describe the events and the ideas driving privatization. They argue that successful reformers must recognize privatization as a process of depoliticizing firms in the face of massive opposition: making the firm responsive to market rather than political influences. The authors first review the economic theory of property rights, identifying the political influence on firms as the fundamental failure of property rights under socialism. They detail the process of coalition building and compromise that ultmately shaped privatization. The main elements of the Russian program -- corporatization, voucher use, and voucher auctions -- are described, as is the responsiveness of privatized firms to outside investors. Finally, the market values of privatized assets are assessed for indications of how much progress the country has made toward reforming its economy. In many respects, privatization has been a great success. Market concepts of property ownership and corporate management are shaking up Russian firms at a breathtaking pace, creating powerful economic and political stimuli for continuation of market reforms. At the same time, the authors caution, the political landscape remains treacherous as old-line politicians reluctantly cede their property rights and authority over firms.

Latin American Development from Populism to Neopopulism

Latin American Development from Populism to Neopopulism PDF Author: Magda von der Heydt-Coca
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1793632472
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 221

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Book Description
Latin American Development from Populism to Neopopulism: A Multidisciplinary Perspective explores the socioeconomic development of Latin America through the periods of populism, military dictatorships, neoliberalism and neopopulism by utilizing a multidisciplinary approach. By analyzing the trends and main socioeconomic structures in each period, von der Heydt-Coca explains the interactions of economic, social, and political spheres. Paradigmatic case studies complement the picture of each period and draw on extensive literature covering economics, history, sociology, and anthropology. Special emphasis is placed on how the world economy constrains the socioeconomic development in the region by examining the influence of international financial organizations and hegemonic countries. Von der Heydt-Coca answers the complex question of why Latin American countries, blessed with a bounty of natural resources and capable of industrialization, could not escape their role as producers and exporters of primary goods.

Our Continent, Our Future

Our Continent, Our Future PDF Author: P. Thandika Mkandawire
Publisher: IDRC
ISBN: 155250204X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description
Our Continent, Our Future presents the emerging African perspective on this complex issue. The authors use as background their own extensive experience and a collection of 30 individual studies, 25 of which were from African economists, to summarize this African perspective and articulate a path for the future. They underscore the need to be sensitive to each country's unique history and current condition. They argue for a broader policy agenda and for a much more active role for the state within what is largely a market economy. Finally, they stress that Africa must, and can, compete in an increasingly globalized world and, perhaps most importantly, that Africans must assume the leading role in defining the continent's development agenda.

Economic Growth in the 1990s

Economic Growth in the 1990s PDF Author: World Bank
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 9780821360439
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 384

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Book Description
This report was prepared by a team led by Roberto Zagha, under the general direction of Gobind Nankani.