4.4 Readings

Course subject(s) Module 4: Governance and Regulation in complex situation

Reading: Handbook for Evaluating Infrastructure Regulatory Systems

Our reading concern:

The Executive Summary (page 1- 9) of the ‘Handbook for Evaluating Infrastructure Regulatory Systems‘ of the World Bank.
This book contains lots of examples and bad practices on regulation in different sectors and also at different governmental levels (state, province, municipality, etc.).
Chapter 11 about counterarrangement from the book ‘Strategic behaviour in network industries: a multidisciplinary approach’ by Ernst ten Heuvelhof, Martin de Jong, Mirjam Kars and Helen Stout,
Strategic behaviour in the various utilities has presented governments, firms and consumers with considerable problems in the past years. The consequences of clever interventions, sly misuse of technical capabilities, foul financial play and deceit when providing information to others have often been quite substantial. In the chapter titled ‘Counterarrangements’ (pre-print from the book ‘Strategic behaviour in network industries: a multidisciplinary approach‘) you will find recommendations to counter the downsides of this phenomenon from the perspective of governance and counterintuitive ways to organise regulation. You may recognize some of these recommendations (like process bundling) from the ‘connecting the dots’ web lecture.

Suggested readings

There is a lot of literature on regulation and infrastructures. What is relevant depends on your case/location/study. Here are a few suggestions for general readings.

An excellent website with lots of information on regulation, terminology, etc.: Body of Knowledge on Infrastructure Regulation
The World Bank report: ‘Turning the right corner: Ensuring Development through a Low-Carbon Transport Sector’ (Inter alia: regulation and clean technologies)
The World Bank report: Water, Electricity, and the Poor: Who Benefits from Utility Subsidies?
Regulating Infrastructure: Review of the Issues, Problems, and Challenges (Chapter 1 from the book: Infrastructure Regulation: What Works, Why And How Do We Know? Lessons from Asia and Beyond)
Infrastructure Regulation in Developing Countries. An Exploration of Hybrid and Transitional Models
Please check, for example, https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/ for detailed case studies about infrastructures all over the world with – in many cases – references to regulation

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