Water, Electricity, and the Poor

Who Benefits from Utility Subsidies?

Jonathan Halpern author Quentin Wodon author Kristin Komives author Vivien Foster author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:World Bank Publications

Published:5th Oct '05

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

Water, Electricity, and the Poor cover

While consumer utility subsidies are widespread in both the water and electricity sectors, their effectiveness in reaching and distributing resources to the poor is the subject of much debate. Water, Electricity, and the Poor brings together empirical evidence on subsidy performance across a wide range of countries. It documents the prevalence of consumer subsidies, provides a typology of the many variants found in the developing world, and presents a number of indicators useful in assessing the degree to which such subsidies benefit the poor, focusing on three key concepts: beneficiary incidence, benefit incidence, and materiality. The findings on subsidy performance will be useful to policy makers, utility regulators, and sector practitioners who are contemplating introducing, eliminating, or modifying utility subsidies, and to those who view consumer utility subsidies as a social protection instrument.

ISBN: 9780821363423

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: unknown

300 pages