According to the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), 924 million people lived in slums in 2001. Population growth in these settlements is much greater than in other urban areas. The estimates suggest that this figure may rise to 1.5 billion by 2020 (Payne, 2005). This rapid...

I. Introduction Public water supply systems have increasingly been subject to commercialisation or corporatisation in the developing world. This method is sometimes used as a surrogate for privatisation in circumstances where existing systems of provision are unattractive for multinational water...

This paper provides a critical analysis of the recent developments in the incomplete contracts theory and its conclusions for privatisation of public services. Drawing on a case study of management contract for urban water services in Ghana and highlighting the flaws in the theory, the article...

Privatization programmes in the developing world have often been assessed on the grounds of efficiency. In recent years a more critical literature with a focus on the distributional and poverty impact of privatization has emerged. This article contributes to that literature in two ways. First,...

Recent development literature has placed priority on poverty reduction, and on possible growth enhancement from a more equal distribution of assets and income. At the same time, empirical work consistently shows that economic growth is no more than distribution neutral. In that context, this...

"Since 2008, Europe has been shaken by an ongoing crisis. If relevant parts of populations are exposed to socioeconomic risks, it is a distinctive characteristic of European political ethics that they must not be left alone, but should be subject to support and solidarity by budget support...

According to current estimates, the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of halving the 1.1 billion people without access to safe drinking water by 2015 will only be achieved by 2040, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Why will it take this long? Because tariffs are unaffordable and...

This article examines the sustainability of wholesale power prices following the 2001 economic crisis in Argentina. We depart from the contractual disputes between the multinational power generating companies and the state of Argentina, arising from price and investment interventions after the...