Private Supply Research Articles

The Private Provision of International Impure Public Goods: The Case of Climate Policy

We discuss a tax-transfer scheme that aims at addressing the under-provision problem associated with the private supply of international public goods and at bringing about Pareto optimal allocations internationally. In particular, we consider the example of the global public good A¢Â€Â˜climate stabilisationA¢Â€Â™, both in an analytical and a numerical simulation model. The proposed scheme levies Pigouvian taxes globally, while international sidepayments are employed in order to provide incentives to individual countries for not taking a free-ride from the international Pigouvian tax scheme. The side-payments, in turn, are financed via the environmental taxes. As a distinctive feature we take into account ancillary benefits that may be associated with local public characteristics of climate policy. We determine the positive impact that ancillary effects may exert on the scope for financing side-payments via environmental taxation. A particular attractive feature of ancillary benefits is that they arise shortly after the implementation of climate policies and therefore yield an almost immediate payback of investments in abatement efforts. Especially in times of high public debt levels, long periods of amortisation would tend to reduce political support for investments in climate policy.

Competition in Lending and Credit Ratings

I examine whether rating agencies strategically manipulate the informativeness of bond ratings in response to competition from private lenders. I model a monopolistic rating agency that caters to a low quality marginal customer with uninformative ratings. High quality customers prefer informative ratings but are captive customers of the rating agency in the absence of competition from private lenders. With competition from private lenders, the rating agency uses informative ratings to keep high quality customers in public markets. I test predictions of the model using a measure of informativeness based on the impact of unexpected ratings on a debt issuer’s borrowing cost. I analyze two events that increased the relative supply of private vs. public lending: the temporary shutdown of the high yield market in 1989 and legislation in 1994 that reduced barriers to interstate bank lending. After each event, I find that the informativeness of ratings increased for issuers whose relative supply of private vs. public capital increased most. The model also suggests that the ratings sector dampens the impact of capital supply shocks, and offers a strategic pricing rationale for the controversial practice of issuing unsolicited credit ratings.

Government Supply of Land in a Dual Market

A dual land market is one in which the government owns a significant portion of developable land while real estate development is done primarily by the private sector. This article examines Singapore's experience with its system of government land supply in a dual market, focusing on its response to market signals as well as the interaction with the significant private supply of land. The example is relevant to the general problem of government sales of valuable assets. The private supply of developable land behaves in line with expectations. The government response to price signals differs only modestly from that of private landowners.

Seroprevalence of Hepatitis E Virus in the UK Farming Population

Hepatitis E is a zoonosis that can be acquired by the consumption of contaminated food or water, or via person-to-person spread. However, little is known about the transmission of hepatitis E virus (HEV) in the UK. We investigated the epidemiology of indigenous hepatitis E infection using the PHLS Farm Cohort, a sentinel group with a history of close contact with a range of domestic animals. Ten of the 413 subjects tested were positive for hepatitis E IgG antibodies (2.4%). Seroprevalence peaked in those aged 51 to 60 years (relative risk 3.3, 95% CI: 1.0-10.5). Male participants (relative risk 3.6, 95% CI: 0.6-21.2) and those from farms in the Hereford area of the United Kingdom (relative risk 2.7, 95% CI: 0.8-8.4), an area of mixed livestock farming, were more likely to have serological evidence of previous HEVs exposure, although these findings were not statistically significant. Exposure to pigs, or water from a private supply, was not identified as a significant risk factor. The results of this study suggest that UK farming populations are exposed to HEV, but the predominant route of transmission remains elusive.

Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment of Cryptosporidiosis and Giardiasis from Very Small Private Water Supplies

This article reports a quantitative microbial risk assessment of the risk of Giardia and Cryptosporidium in very small private water supplies. Both pathogens have been implicated in causing outbreaks of waterborne disease associated with such supplies, though the risk of endemic disease is not known. For exposure assessments, we used existing data to derive regression equations describing the relationships between the concentration of these pathogens and Escherichia coli in private water supplies. Pathogen concentrations were then estimated using national surveillance data of E. coli in private water supplies in England and France. The estimated risk of infection was very high with the median annual risk being of the order of 25-28% for Cryptosporidium and 0.4% to 0.7% for Giardia, though, in the poorer quality supplies the risk could be much higher. These risks are substantially greater than for public water supplies and well above the risk considered tolerable. The observation that observed infection rates are generally much lower may indicate increased immunity in people regularly consuming water from private supplies. However, this increased immunity is presumed to derive from increased disease risk in young children, the group most at risk from severe disease.

Financing off-grid rural electrification: Country case Nepal

More than 61% of the total population of Nepal has no access to electricity. The majority is poor and live in rural areas. In recent years, rural electrification has had high priority in government policies, and micro hydro and solar PV have been the most commonly adopted off-grid technologies. The financial mix in the off-grid rural electrification is generally characterized by subsidy, equity and credit. In this paper, we analyze how rural electrification has been funded and the impact of subsidy policies on the renewable energy market, focusing on the projects implemented under the ‘subsidy policy 2000’. Our study is based on official data obtained from authorities in Nepal and a survey carried out among private supply and installation companies, NGOs and financial institutions. The study shows that awareness levels in adopting RE-technologies and willingness of people to access and pay for electricity have increased significantly. However, there is a huge financial gap between the cost of electrification and the affordability. Bridging this gap is a crucial issue that needs to be addressed for the smooth expansion of rural electrification in the country.

Drinking water incidents due to chemical contamination in England and Wales, 2006–2008

Contamination of drinking water by microbiological and chemical agents can lead to adverse health effects. In England and Wales, the Chemicals Hazards and Poisons Division (CHaPD) of the Health Protection Agency provides expert advice on the consequences to public health of chemical contamination incidents affecting drinking water. In this study, we extracted data from the National Database on the type and nature of drinking water contamination events reported to the CHaPD between 2006 and 2008. Eighty-two incidents with confirmed chemical contamination were identified. Among the 70 incidents where data was available, 40% (28/70) of incidents related to contamination of drinking water provided by private suppliers, 31% (22/70) were due to contamination occurring close to the point of consumption (i.e. near consumer) and 29% (20/70) related to incidents where public water supplies were identified as the contaminated source. For the majority of incidents, little or no information was available on the critical exposure variables such as duration of contamination and actual or estimates of the population affected. Reassuringly, the levels of exposure in most incidents were considered unlikely to cause serious immediate or long term ill health effects. Recording of exposure data for reported contamination incidents needs to be improved.

Manganese concentrations in Scottish groundwater

Groundwater is increasingly being used for public and private water supplies in Scotland, but there is growing evidence that manganese (Mn) concentrations in many groundwater supplies exceed the national drinking water limit of 0.05 mg l − 1 . This study examines the extent and magnitude of high Mn concentrations in groundwater in Scotland and investigates the factors controlling Mn concentrations. A dataset containing 475 high quality groundwater samples was compiled using new data from Baseline Scotland supplemented with additional high quality data where available. Concentrations ranged up to 1.9 mg l − 1 ; median Mn concentration was 0.013 mg l − 1 with 25th and 75th percentiles 0.0014 and 0.072 mg l − 1 respectively. The Scottish drinking water limit (0.05 mg l − 1 ) was exceeded for 30% of samples and the WHO health guideline (0.4 mg l − 1 ) by 9%; concentrations were highest in the Carboniferous sedimentary aquifer in central Scotland, the Devonian sedimentary aquifer of Morayshire, and superficial aquifers. Further analysis using 137 samples from the Devonian aquifers indicated strong redox and pH controls (pH, Eh and dissolved oxygen accounted for 58% of variance in Mn concentrations). In addition, an independent relationship between Fe and Mn was observed, suggesting that Fe behaviour in groundwater may affect Mn solubility. Given the redox status and pH of Scottish groundwaters the most likely explanation is sorption of Mn to Fe oxides, which are released into solution when Fe is reduced. Since the occurrence of elevated Mn concentrations is widespread in groundwaters from all aquifer types, consideration should be given to monitoring Mn more widely in both public and private groundwater supplies in Scotland and by implication elsewhere.

Private Regulation, Supply Chain and Contractual Networks: The Case of Food Safety

Within agriculture industry chains, important changes have taken place. Both vertical integration and vertical disintegration are occurring. These transformations may have effects on the adoption of private standards, but more importantly, may also affect the functions that private standards may play within the chain. I develop a coordinated approach that integrates the value supply chain perspective with regulatory theory to show that co-evolutionary patterns explain the changes in the supply chain and the increasing use of transnational private regulation. I then focus on different coordination mechanisms that are, or can be, used in food chains, and propose a wider deployment of contractual networks to improve effectiveness of food safety regulation. I distinguish between contractual networks directed at information production and transfer and contractual networks concerning risk assessment and risk management. I conclude with some policy recommendations.

The Place of the Money Bag in the Secular-Mendicant Controversy at Paris

The Place of the Money Bag in the Secular-Mendicant Controversy at Paris Robert J. Karris O.F.M. (bio) Money bag, money bag. So many Bible-reading Christians don't know of your existence. In their defense I note that you are only mentioned twice in the entire New Testament: John 12:6 and 13:29. If faithful Bible-reading Christians don't know of your existence, what is your fate among the faithful who are less than faithful?! Is ignorance truly bliss? New Testament Scholars Money bag, money bag. Perhaps, New Testament scholars are the reason why you are almost unknown among Christians.1 Commentators on John's Gospel give you a passing notice, if that.2 Even when they make mention of you, they [End Page 21] generally don't integrate your existence with other features of John's theology or life situation.3 As for the Jesus Seminar, its members sweep you into the dustbin of history along with 99.9% of John's Gospel.4 You see, you are deemed unhistorical. A couple of scholars involved in the quest for the historical Jesus say "Hi!" to you, but then go on with more important matters.5 Other scholars involved in the application [End Page 22] of social science methodology to the study of the New Testament opine that you were kept as a security measure and contained money to pay for the annual temple tax and such like obligations, but then they hold their peace.6 Money bag, money bag. Scholars who have investigated the theme of rich and poor in the New Testament hardly give [End Page 23] you a second glance. You do not play a leading role in their general conclusions.7 So, money bag, we have to take leave of New Testament scholarship if we are going to make your acquaintance on a serious level. The Middle Ages Francis of Assisi As we move into the Middle Ages, we ask: Did St. Francis of Assisi provide us with guidance on how to treat you with the respect that you, O money bag, so richly deserve? You see, some scholars maintain that John's Gospel was most important to Francis's worldview.8 However, Francis doesn't seem to see the problem you created for his all-consuming embrace of Jesus' missionary command of traveling with no money.9 [End Page 24] Surely Francis knows of your existence, for he refers to you in his Fourth Admonition n. 3: And the more they (superiors) are perturbed about their superiorship being taken from them than they would be over the loss of the office of washing feet, so much the more do they collect for themselves a money bag (John 12:6; 13:29) to the peril of their souls.10 Francis is heir to a Benedictine spiritualization of the money bag. See how Roger the Abbot in his Sermo in ultima cena employs the money bag: Woe, how many money bags, woe, how many purses are in the monasteries of St. Benedict! Woe, how many cowls, which cover the ears of the tonsured, enclose private supplies of the mind, the money bag of one's own will, the purse of murmuring, detraction, idleness, pride, envy, jealousy, and bad will! But remember, most beloved brothers, that those who do such things follow Judas the traitor. And therefore, unless you amend your lives, you will not possess the kingdom of God.11 O money bag, so Francis goes his merry way, apparently ignorant of your true meaning and leaves the problems created by your existence to his learned followers such as Bonaventure of Bagnoregio. To Bonaventure we now turn, but do so through his responses to his secular opponents, William of Saint-Amour and Gerard of Abbeville. First let's hear from the secular masters. [End Page 25] William of Saint-Amour and Gerard of Abbeville William of Saint-Amour comments on John 12:6 and argues that it does not permit begging and is the basis for the normative view that the apostles and their successors should have a money bag. He writes: Augustine, 'the Lord had a purse to keep the offerings...

Competitive Private Supply of Public Goods

Competitive Private Supply of Public Goods

Piloting the Global Subsidy: The Impact of Subsidized Artemisinin-Based Combination Therapies Distributed through Private Drug Shops in Rural Tanzania

BackgroundWHO estimates that only 3% of fever patients use recommended artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs), partly reflecting their high prices in the retail sector from where many patients seek treatment. To overcome this challenge, a global ACT subsidy has been proposed. We tested this proposal through a pilot program in rural Tanzania.Methods/Principal FindingsThree districts were assigned to serve either as a control or to receive the subsidy plus a package of supporting interventions. From October 2007, ACTs were sold at a 90% subsidy through the normal private supply chain to intervention district drug shops. Data were collected at baseline and during intervention using interviews with drug shop customers, retail audits, mystery shoppers, and audits of public and NGO facilities.The proportion of consumers in the intervention districts purchasing ACTs rose from 1% at baseline to 44.2% one year later (p<0.001), and was significantly higher among consumers purchasing for children under 5 than for adults (p = 0.005). No change in ACT usage was observed in the control district. Consumers paid a mean price of $0.58 for ACTs, which did not differ significantly from the price paid for sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine, the most common alternative. Drug shops in population centers were significantly more likely to stock ACTs than those in more remote areas (p<0.001).ConclusionsA subsidy introduced at the top of the private sector supply chain can significantly increase usage of ACTs and reduce their retail price to the level of common monotherapies. Additional interventions may be needed to ensure access to ACTs in remote areas and for poorer individuals who appear to seek treatment at drug shops less frequently.Trial RegistrationControlled-Trials.com ISRCTN39125414.

Regulation and competition among schools in six European localities

According to this analysis of the dynamics of competition in six school zones in Europe (Charleroi, Budapest, Lisbon, London, Lille and the Paris area), secondary schools pursue “logics of action” that are shaped by an interdependence between local establishments. Parents’ strategies for choosing a school rank establishments and lead to a competitive interdependence with a pattern and intensity that vary depending on the place — the major issue being the capacity to attract and retain students. A typology of these “logics” is proposed: establishments pursue a logic of conquest, profit from the status quo, diversification or adaptation depending on their local position and the intensity of competition. Questions are raised about the potentials and limits of public interventions for regulating this competitive interdependence. Competition, along with its deviant effects (segregation and inequality), arises out of the shortcomings and limitations of public interventions and out of the fragmentation of local regulations. A lack of coordination between the authorities in charge, between districts and between the public and private supply of education affects the development of opportunistic tactics by certain establishments. The conclusion draws attention to the need for coordinating regulations.

Remediating Large Plumes: Overcoming the Scale Challenge

Introduction The remediation industry, now three decades old, continues to evolve. This is driven by many factors: technological developments, a need to address emerging contaminants, regulatory changes, economic factors, and sustainability considerations. These have created both challenges and opportunities at different stages of the industry’s evolution. Although many things have changed with time, one of the most difficult practical challenges remains—namely, how to deal with large dissolved plumes (referred to as “large plumes” throughout this article). Presumptive thinking emphasizes containment and management of these large plumes rather than focusing on mass removal and site closures. The term large plume obviously highlights scale as being the critically defining attribute; however, it is worth identifying other attributes that are discussed in this article:

Drought is normal: the socio-technical evolution of drought and water demand in England and Wales, 1893–2006

Water stress is becoming a permanent feature of life in Britain and other developed societies, and attempts to change ‘consumer behaviour’ are at the forefront of strategies for sustainability. This paper combines historical, geographical and sociological perspectives on the evolution of drought and water demand in modern England and Wales. Droughts have natural properties but their course, size and distribution is also the result of an interplay between governance, social norms and everyday practices. Focusing on seven significant droughts between 1893 and 2006, this article traces changing understandings of ‘normal’ water consumption and ‘rational’ demand and relates them to the evolving socio-technical management of water and identities of ‘the consumer’. We challenge the idea of a watershed between private supply (associated with passive ‘customers’) and public ownership (associated with active ‘citizens’). While private systems facilitated self-organised civic action more easily than public supply, the ideal of a citizen-contract blinded systems of public provision to the problem of expanding water use. An interdisciplinary analysis of droughts in the past offers lessons for the debate about sustainable consumption today.

The dynamics of contractual and relational governance: Evidence from long-term public–private procurement arrangements

This paper investigates the detail and dynamics of how contractual and relational governance mechanisms are deployed in managing complex, long-term public–private supply arrangements. Using empirical data from two UK Private Finance Initiative (PFI) cases, the paper analyses the interplay of governance mechanisms along a timeline of project phases. Conceptual and practical findings confirm that relational and contractual mechanisms are indeed complementary forms of exchange governance but also that the relational intentions of all parties frame whether the contract is interpreted as a written sign of distrust or commitment. Equally, relational and contractual governance follow different development paths: both follow cumulative trajectories but (a) inter-personal relational mechanisms are more incremental and fragile, whereas (b) contractual mechanisms move with fewer degrees of freedom and ‘anchor’ the exchange throughout the life cycle. Finally, the different development characteristics of relational and contractual mechanisms mean that their dynamic interplay does not follow consistent patterns. The paper concludes with suggestions for more longitudinal studies.

Priorities for the Justice System: Responding to the Most Urgent Legal Problems of Individuals

At some points in their lives, people experience legal problems that induce justice needs: they need protection by outside norms or interventions that structure the conduct of other persons. In this paper, we attempt to identify the most prevalent and urgent legal problems of individuals. We start with an intuitive list of twelve categories of legal problems that frequently occur in the law and development literature and in access to justice research. Then we use six approaches, each with their own strengths and blind spots, that give indications of the frequency and urgency of these legal problems: (1) information regarding the frequency of the problems from legal needs surveys conducted in eight countries; (2) data from these surveys about the typical impact of these problems on people's lives; (3) court specializations in sixteen countries; (4) estimates of the value of the interests that individuals wish to protect against threats from outsiders; (5) estimates of the typical costs of self-protection; and (6) estimates of the typical size of specific investments that a person will lose if he leaves the threatening situation. These approaches (not representing a rigorous empirical methodology) give some guidance for the process of setting priorities in justice systems that aim to be responsive to these needs. We discuss the policy implications for governments, donors in the area of law and development, and private suppliers of norms and interventions. In particular we speculate about the types of norms that may be an answer to the categories of legal problems, the types of interventions that may fit these legal problems, the possible consequences for specialization of court and other legal services, as well as the capacity that may be needed to deal with each category of legal problems. Our exploration of urgent legal problems and the most effective ways to meet justice needs suggests that there are many gaps between the type of protection that individuals need, and what legal systems are able to deliver.

Access to water resources in Belgium: strategies of public and private suppliers

Water suppliers adopt a variety of strategies to gain access to and control of water resources. In contrast to theoretical approaches which assert that the status of ownership determines water supplier strategies, we argue that supplier strategies depend on the activation of property rights and the specific public policies applied to the resource. These two components of the institutional water regime are thus factors that are more important in explaining the suppliers' strategies than the intrinsic characteristics of the water operator. We thus present two case histories of aquifer exploitation for drinking and mineral water production; we compare two companies in Belgium, one publicly and one privately owned. This comparison shows that the operator strategy is identical in both cases, regardless of whether the ownership status of the water supplier was public or private. Both companies attempted to appropriate the resource privately in order to maximize its security over the resource and its supply. In each case, the winning strategy consisted in gradually excluding all direct or indirect users of the resource such as competitors, farmers and residents. The aquifer was then effectively protected in quantity and quality over time; however this state of affairs does not necessarily entail sustainability of the resource in a broader sense, as social and economic aspects were not directly considered.

Major, Blair and the Third Way in Social Policy

Abstract Tony Blair's adoption of the catchphrase ‘the Third Way’ to précis New Labour's policy orientation allowed him to distance ‘New’ Labour from ‘Old’ Labour and to appropriate many of John Major's modifications to Thatcherism, albeit framed within a new political language. This article sets out the basic similarities and differences between the social policies of the Major and Blair governments, arguing that, although the policies have been presented within different discourses, there has been a marked similarity in policy content, with Major espousing Third Way policies if not Third Way rhetoric. Indeed, towards the end of his second term of office, Blair started to go beyond the Third Way and towards Margaret Thatcher's favoured model of spirited competition between public and private suppliers.

The private supply of and public demand for planning: Compliance with planning conditions in the absence of direct statutory enforcement measures

If conditions are being imposed by planning authorities; but not enforced adequately; and not checked in detail when property changes hands; is there not an awful lot of effort being wasted in impo...