Direct subsidies are an increasingly popular means of making infrastructure services more affordable to the poor. Under the direct subsidy approach, governments pay part of the water bill of poor households that meet certain criteria. This approach was first used in water sector reforms in Chile...

Reform of the water, electricity, and telecommunications sectors is gathering momentum in nearly all developing countries. Reform should include an assessment of whether subsidies are necessary and if so, how to design subsidies that reach their intended beneficiaries accurately and do not...