Accounting for Poverty in Infrastructure Reform: Learning from Latin America's Experience (WBI Development Studies)

During the 1990's a number of countries in Latin America including Argentina, Bolivia and Chile, developed policies focused on utility sector liberalization through increased private sector participation. This focus resulted from the recognition that overall quality and availability of services were inadequate. Infrastructure reform is inexorably linked to poverty alleviation and therefore must be carefully constructed and enacted.

This book provides practical guidelines and options for infrastructure reform that result in access and affordability for the poor. Accounting for Poverty in Infrastructure Reform: Learning from Latin America's Experience includes analysis of the trade-offs that must be made between efficiency, equity, and fiscal costs of the options. It includes a new model for reform that consists of three main components - policies, regulation, and provision which when properly balanced minimize the risks associated with reform.