Does Greater Autonomy Improve Performance?

Résumé du livre

We assess the efficiency of urban water supply in 27 Indian cities using data envelopment analysis (DEA). We also group cities by the management structure of their water utilities. Utilities with greater degree of functional autonomy perform better, supporting the hypothesis that more autonomy in management leads to better performance among water utilities. Our results also have implications for urban domestic water pricing -- most of the utilities operate under decreasing returns to scale (DRS) implying water should be priced at marginal cost of supply.