{"title":"Private ownership of water and wastewater systems: Assessing health impacts","authors":"Rodrigo França Chaves, Adriano Borges Costa","doi":"10.1016/j.jup.2025.101903","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study examines the impact of private ownership of water and wastewater systems on disease reduction linked to sanitation in Brazil from 1998 to 2021. It updates Saiani and de Azevedo (2018), which analyzed the period 1995–2008, by incorporating over a decade of additional data, key policy changes such as the 2020 Sanitation Law, and employing the Callaway–Sant’Anna Staggered DID methodology to address heterogeneity in treatment effects. Our findings reveal mixed results: while some municipalities achieved reductions in morbidity rates, others showed no change or increases, underscoring the context-dependent nature of privatization outcomes. A notable example is the case of Tocantins, where transitioning from a hybrid private-state model to full private ownership led to a significant decrease in disease morbidity, particularly among the most affected age groups. These advancements provide a robust, updated perspective on the privatization debate, offering valuable implications for policy and practice.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":23554,"journal":{"name":"Utilities Policy","volume":"95 ","pages":"Article 101903"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8000,"publicationDate":"2025-03-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Utilities Policy","FirstCategoryId":"96","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0957178725000189","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"ENERGY & FUELS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
This study examines the impact of private ownership of water and wastewater systems on disease reduction linked to sanitation in Brazil from 1998 to 2021. It updates Saiani and de Azevedo (2018), which analyzed the period 1995–2008, by incorporating over a decade of additional data, key policy changes such as the 2020 Sanitation Law, and employing the Callaway–Sant’Anna Staggered DID methodology to address heterogeneity in treatment effects. Our findings reveal mixed results: while some municipalities achieved reductions in morbidity rates, others showed no change or increases, underscoring the context-dependent nature of privatization outcomes. A notable example is the case of Tocantins, where transitioning from a hybrid private-state model to full private ownership led to a significant decrease in disease morbidity, particularly among the most affected age groups. These advancements provide a robust, updated perspective on the privatization debate, offering valuable implications for policy and practice.
期刊介绍:
Utilities Policy is deliberately international, interdisciplinary, and intersectoral. Articles address utility trends and issues in both developed and developing economies. Authors and reviewers come from various disciplines, including economics, political science, sociology, law, finance, accounting, management, and engineering. Areas of focus include the utility and network industries providing essential electricity, natural gas, water and wastewater, solid waste, communications, broadband, postal, and public transportation services.
Utilities Policy invites submissions that apply various quantitative and qualitative methods. Contributions are welcome from both established and emerging scholars as well as accomplished practitioners. Interdisciplinary, comparative, and applied works are encouraged. Submissions to the journal should have a clear focus on governance, performance, and/or analysis of public utilities with an aim toward informing the policymaking process and providing recommendations as appropriate. Relevant topics and issues include but are not limited to industry structures and ownership, market design and dynamics, economic development, resource planning, system modeling, accounting and finance, infrastructure investment, supply and demand efficiency, strategic management and productivity, network operations and integration, supply chains, adaptation and flexibility, service-quality standards, benchmarking and metrics, benefit-cost analysis, behavior and incentives, pricing and demand response, economic and environmental regulation, regulatory performance and impact, restructuring and deregulation, and policy institutions.