Honors Theses
Date of Award
2008
Document Type
Undergraduate Thesis
Department
Croft Institute for International Studies
First Advisor
Oliver Dinius
Relational Format
Dissertation/Thesis
Abstract
In 1993, the water providing service of Buenos Aires was privatized in order to increase the number of constituents with water access and improve water quality. The government also needed an infusion of cash to pay off foreign debt and support a new monetary policy pegged to the dollar. Given these two situations, privatization seemed to provide the most logical answer to each of these problems. However, after ten years of water rate increases that prohibited many citizens fi*om receiving water access, the state renationalized water service in Buenos Aires, Although privatization is generally accepted as the most efficient means of running an organization, this economic policy failed in Buenos Aires. The government did not have enough regulatory powers to insure that the water service contract was followed. The foreign-run water service was able to break its contract, charge extremely high rates, and keep its contract, privatization does not always provide the best solution to a problem. It depends on the level of development and regulation that exists within a society. If there is not a sufficiently developed system of regulation, then privatization cannot have success.
Recommended Citation
Norris, Joshua Lee, "The Perils of Privatizing Water: The Case of Buenos Aires in Comparative Perspective" (2008). Honors Theses. 2386.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/hon_thesis/2386
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