Liberalization in the Water Sector : Three Leading Models.

Claude Ménard (1) , Peeroo Aleksandra (1)

1 CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne

Our chapter is organized as follows. Section I comes back to the characteristics of the water sector. It describes some key features that may explain the slow pace of reform and that may also help better understanding characteristics and limits of that process. Then, a historical and global overview of the liberalization movement and the actual state of the water sector is presented. Section II examines more specifically the main drivers towards and factors of resistance to the liberalization process in the water sector. Section III looks at how these factors operate in three models of liberalization, illustrated with as many stylized examples from European countries . Section IV takes stock of this examination to point out challenges of liberalization in the water sector, which have to do with guaranteeing integrity and coherence of water systems.

Mots clés: Water reform; liberalization; privatization; public-private partnership; corporatization; transaction costs

Domaines: Economies et finances

Claude Ménard, Peeroo Aleksandra. Liberalization in the Water Sector : Three Leading Models.. Rolf Kunneke and Matthias Finger. International Handbook of Network Industries: The Liberalization of Infrastrcutures, Edward Elgar, pp.310-327, 2011. ⟨halshs-00624303⟩