Welfare consequences of water supply alternatives in rural Tunisia |
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Authors: | Slim Zekri Ariel Dinar |
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Affiliation: | Ecole Supérieure d'Agriculture de Mograne, University of Tunis, 1121 Zaghouan, Tunis, Tunisia;Rural Development Department, The World Bank, 1818 H St. NW, Room MC 5-815, Washington DC 20433, USA |
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Abstract: | Many economic studies have addressed the issue of inefficiency of public water supply in rural areas and the potential for improved service by private companies. Many of these analyses focused on identifying either willingness to pay or comparing average service costs and prices paid by customers. This paper performs a welfare analysis of two water supply systems—public and self owned—in rural Tunisia. The paper calculates consumer and producer surplus and compares the performance of the two systems from a social point of view. Results suggest that both systems are inefficient, mainly because of a production level that is low compared with production capacity. |
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Keywords: | O18 Q25 R13 |
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