Direct subsidies are an increasingly popular means of making infrastructure services more affordable to the poor. Under the direct subsidy approach, governments pay part of the water bill of poor households that meet certain criteria. This approach was first used in water sector reforms in Chile in the early 1990s and is an alternative to the traditional method in which governments pay subsidies directly to utilities, often allowing the price of water to fall below economic costs indiscriminately. This Note illustrates how simulation techniques can be used to inform the design of direct subsidy schemes, ensuring that they are both cost-effective and accurate in reaching the target population.
Details
-
Author
Foster, Vivien Gomez-Lobos, Andres Halpern, Jona
-
Document Date
2000/06/30
-
Document Type
Viewpoint
-
Report Number
21467
-
Volume No
1
-
Total Volume(s)
1
-
Country
-
Region
-
Disclosure Date
2010/07/01
-
Doc Name
Designing direct subsidies for the poor : a water and sanitation case study
-
Keywords
Targeted subsidies; Payments systems; Water pricing; Needs assessment; Eligibility criteria; Water service connections; Sewerage; Survey data; Household income; Household expenditure surveys; Administrative costs; Interviews; Economic incentives; Simulations
- See More
Downloads
COMPLETE REPORT
Official version of document (may contain signatures, etc)
- TXT*
- Total Downloads** :
- Download Stats
-
*The text version is uncorrected OCR text and is included solely to benefit users with slow connectivity.
Citation
Foster, Vivien Gomez-Lobos, Andres Halpern, Jona
Designing direct subsidies for the poor : a water and sanitation case study (English). Public policy for the private sector ; Note no. 211 Washington, D.C. : World Bank Group. http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/676831468775147113/Designing-direct-subsidies-for-the-poor-a-water-and-sanitation-case-study