This paper examines the pricing of a utility with an underdeveloped network facing a competitive fringe, short-run network adjustment costs, theft of service, and the threat of retaliatory government intervention that is increasing with the price it charges. Under a variety of plausible...

This paper uses an analytically tractable intertemporal framework for analyzing the dynamic pricing of a utility with an underdeveloped network (a typical case in most developing countries) facing a competitive fringe, short-run network adjustment costs, theft of service, and the threat of a...

This paper reviews the progress made in the literature toward defining and measuring the affordability of utilities. It highlights the relative merits of alternate affordability metrics; the practical challenges to their operationalization, including the underlying data requirements; and their...

The paper investigates the strength of innovation-driven employment growth, the role of competition in stimulating and facilitating it, and whether it is inclusive. In a sample of more than 26,000 manufacturing establishments across 71 countries (both OECD and developing), the authors find that...

The East African Community has long recognised that regional economic integration can yield significant welfare gains to its member states. To that end, the community has been making steady progress towards the removal of tariffs and quantitative restrictions to trade. Moreover, in recent years,...

The electricity deficit is one of the most serious contemporary issues facing sub-Saharan Africa. Many countries in the region have insufficient generation capacity to meet rapidly rising demand. Electricity shortages have become a binding and powerful constraint on the continent׳s sustainable...

Infrastructure industries and services are crucial for generating economic growth, alleviating poverty, and increasing international competitiveness. Safe water is essential for life, and health. Reliable electricity saves businesses and consumers from having to invest in expensive backup...

Over the past decade, Africa has been experiencing an economic resurgence. Yet, the continent is facing several difficult challenges and many economies of the region continue to be among the least competitive in the world. Africa.s competitiveness is adve