Vivien Foster – författare

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.

There is currently a need for the international community to improve its understanding of the new role that China is playing in the development of Africa's infrastructure and its implications for Africa's development. This report seeks to contribute to such an understanding by providing more solid estimates of the overall volume of finance, as well as an analysis of its composition. The report focuses on Sub-Saharan Africa, which is where infrastructure financing needs are particularly critical and where the bulk of the Chinese activity has taken place.

During the 1990s, a new paradigm for power sector reform was put forward emphasizing the restructuring ofutilities, the creation of regulators, the participation of the private sector, and the establishment of competitivepower markets. Twenty-five years later, only a handful of developing countries have fully implemented theseWashington Consensus policies. Across the developing world, reforms were adopted rather selectively, resultingin a 'hybrid model' where elements of market-orientation coexist with continued state-dominance of the sector.This book aims to revisit and refresh thinking on power sector reform approaches for developing countries. Theapproach relies heavily on evidence from the past, drawing both on broad global trends, and deep case materialfrom 15 developing countries. It is also forward-looking; considering the implications of new social andenvironmental policy goals, as well as emerging technological disruptions.A nuanced picture emerges. While regulation has been widely adopted, practice often falls well short of theory;and cost recovery remains an elusive goal. The private sector has financed a substantial expa_nsion of generationcapacity. Yet, its contribution to power distribution has been much more limited, with efficiency levels cansometimes be matched by well-governed public utilities. Restructuring and liberalization have been beneficial ina handful of larger middle-income nations; but have proved too complex for most countries to implement.Based on these findings, the report points to three major policy implications. First, reform efforts need to beshaped by the political and economic context of the host country. The 1990s reform model was most successfulin countries that had reached certain minimum conditions of power sector development and offered asupportive political environment. Second, reform efforts should be driven and tailored towards desired policyoutcomes, and less preoccupied with following a predetermined process. Particularly given that WashingtonConsensus reforms alone will not deliver on twenty-first century policy objectives. Third, countries foundalternative institutional pathways to achieving good power sector outcomes, making a case for greater pluralismgoing forward.

Fiscal risks associated with infrastructure are both more frequent and larger than previously assumed. Off the Books: Understanding and Mitigating the Fiscal Risks of Infrastructure quantifies the magnitude and prevalence of these risks in electricity and transport and identifies their root causes across a range of low- and middle-income countries.