Electricity sector reform in developing Countries : a survey of empirical evidence on determinants and performance / Tooraj Jamasb, Raffaella Mota, David Newbery, Michael Pollitt. - Washington, D. C : World Bank, 2005. - 76p ; 29 cm. - Policy research working papers ; no. 3549 .

Also available online. "Driven by ideology, economic reasoning, and early success stories, vast amounts of financial resources and effort have been spent on reforming infrastructure industries in developing Countries. It is therefore important to examine whether evidence supports the logic of reforms. The authors review the empirical evidence on electricity reform in developing Countries. They find that country insitutitions and sector governance play an important role in the success and failure of reform. And reforms also appear to have increased operating efficiency and expanded access to urban customers. However, the reforms have to a lesser degree passed on efficiency gains to customers, tackled distributional effects, and improved rural access. Moreover, some of the literature is not methodologically robust and on par with general development economics literature. Further, findings on some issu

Includes bibliographical references.

Open access.


Electric power--Developing Countries.