Les contraintes cognitives, déterminant essentiel du choix du mode de gestion de l'eau

In order to explain performance differentials in water system, economic analysis mainly focus on the link between contractual choice and performance. Recently, research based upon the Transaction Costs Theory showed that performance differentials would be better explained by local differences in terms of asset specificity, origin of water? The aim of this article is to go a step further into this analysis by focusing on the key role of cognitive problems on the contractual choice. In order to test our assumptions, a binary logit model has been applied to French data. A strong correlation appears between the complexity of water treatment and the probability to adopt private governance rather than public governance.