Water privatisation in Argentina
[ Home ] [ Bush talks sense on environment ] [ Campaigns ] [ Commentary ] [ Doomsday predictions ] [ Earthquake News ] [ Electromagnetic radiation ] [ Environmental news ] [ GM stuff ] [ Fishing ] [ Forests ] [ Global warming ] [ Green watch ] [ Hunting stuff ] [ Lomborg ] [ Mining Industry news ] [ Miscellaneous ] [ Mountains ] [ Planning ] [ I remember it well ] [ Nuclear power ] [ Oil ] [ People who should know better ] [ precautionary principle ] [ Privatisation ] [ Railways ] [ Roads ] [ "Things are getting better" stuff ] [ Tourism ] [ Water ] [ Wind power ]

You have reached iGreens.org.uk.  In December 2006 we moved to iGreens.org with faster servers and discussion boards.  Click here to follow us.  

[ Home ] [ Up ]

Between 1991 and 1999, about 30 percent of water companies covering approximately 60 percent of the population of Argentina were privatised.   In contrast to the worries of many activists, privatisation turned out to be good for the poor. 

The privatisation of water services was actually associated with a reduction in child mortality of 5 to 7 percent. Moreover, most of the reduction in mortality occurred in low-income households, where the network expansion was the greatest.

Public water systems in Argentina had deteriorated so far that privatization not only generated private profits, and attracted investments, but also expanded service, and reduced child mortality.

The lessons are; 

Privatisation does not lead to under-investment and poor service quality.   It is good for health. Even if the private sector provides suboptimal services in some ways, it does much better than either the public sector or the non-profit cooperative sector. 
The public perception that privatisation hurts the poor is also misguided. It is driven by the belief that privatised companies raise prices, enforce service payment, and invest only in lucrative high-income areas.  In fact the poorest population experienced the largest gains from privatization in terms of reduction in child mortality.

Galiani S, Gerther P, Schargrodsky, E. Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR), Stanford University , 2002

Read the full article here

 

[ Home ] [ Up ]

You have reached iGreens.org.uk.  In December 2006 we moved to iGreens.org with faster servers and discussion boards.  Click here to follow us.  

Send mail to enquiries@igreens.org.uk  with questions or comments about this web site.
Last modified: February 11, 2006