Performance and Regulatory Policy for the Privatization of China’s Urban Public Utilities
Title: Performance and Regulatory Policy for the Privatization of China’s Urban Public Utilities
Author: Wang Junhao, Zhou Xiaomei, Wang Jianming, Li Yunyan
Translated by Wu Congsheng
ISBN: 978-1-84464-664-7
Ebook ISBN: 978-1-84464-665-4
Hardback - 548 pages
February 2022
English
£90 €110 $150
Description:
The urban public utilities industry is a comprehensive industry that provides urban residents the essential services for living and production. The services include urban water supply, drainage, sewage treatment, gas supply, central heating, urban road and public transportation, environmental hygiene, garbage disposal, and urban landscaping. The industry has the basic technical and economic features of fundamentality, monopoly, network effect, externality, public welfare, and regionalism. According to conventional theories, urban public utilities are classic examples of market failures where market competition mechanism fails to function, and they should be monopolized by one or very few state-run enterprises in a given region. Nevertheless, under the traditional regulatory framework, urban public utilities suffer from several structural problems: low efficiency in general; lack of competition due to monopolistic operation; severe underinvestment due to relatively monotonous investment channel; and lack of incentives to improve production efficiency under the current price discovery mechanism. Consequently, the reform of urban public utilities seems urgent. This book analyses essential issues.
The book is structured into four parts. Part I, comprising chapters 1-3, explores the backgrounds and motives of private operation of urban public utilities, analyzes the history and current status of private operations, and constructs the performance evaluation system. Part II includes chapter 4 and chapter 5. Recognizing that private operation of urban public utilities and government regulation are highly interdependent, this part investigates the negative effects that may arise from private operation of public utilities as well as their causes, analyzes the demand for government regulations on private operations, and discusses the supply of government regulations in terms of regulatory system, regulatory institutions, and regulatory policies. Part III is composed of chapters 6, 7, and 8. This part focuses on three public utility areas: urban water supply, gas pipeline, and garbage disposal. It investigates the technical and economic features and the current status of private operation reforms in these three areas, evaluates the performance of private operation in each area, and explores the main contents of government regulations and policies in each utility area. Chapter 9 is treated as an independent part of the book. Based on the summary and analyses about the success and problems in private operation of China’s urban public utilities, this last part provides some basic ideas that can be used to promote and deepen the reforms of private operation of urban public utilities.
Content:
Chapter 1 The Backgrounds and Motives of Privatization of Urban Public Utilities
1.1 Traditional Management System of Urban Public Utilities in China
1.2 Backgrounds of the Privatization of Urban Public Utilities
1.3 Major Motives of Privatization of Urban Public Utilities
1.4 Some Theoretical Arguments about the Privatization of Urban Public Utilities in China
Chapter 2 The History and Current Situation of China’s Private Operationalization of Urban Public Utilities
2.1 History of Private Operationalization in Urban Public Utilities
2.2 Analysis of the Present Situation of Private Operationalization in Urban Public Utilities
2.3 Evaluation of the Achievements and Problems of Private Operationalization of Urban Public Utilities
Chapter 3 The Performance Evaluation System of Private Operationalization of Urban Public Utilities
3.1 The Importance of Performance Evaluation of Private Operationalization of Urban Public Utilities
3.2 The Principles of Performance Evaluation of Private Operationalization of Urban Public Utilities
3.3 The Contents of Performance Evaluation of Private Operationalization of Urban Public Utilities
3.4 The Performance Evaluation Indicators of Private Operationalization of Urban Public Utilities
Chapter 4 Negative Impacts of Private Operationalization of Urban Public Utilities and the Need for Regulations
4.1 Negative Impacts of Private Operationalization of Urban Public Utilities
4.2 Causes of the Negative Impacts from Private Operationalization of Urban Public Utilities
4.3 The Need for Regulations on Private Operationalization of Urban Public Utilities
Chapter 5 The Regulatory System and Regulatory Policies of Urban Public Utilities
5.1 The Regulatory System of Urban Public Utilities
5.2 The Regulatory Agencies of Urban Public Utilities
5.3 The Main Regulatory Policies of Urban Public Utilities
Chapter 6 Performance Evaluation and Regulatory Policies for the Urban Water Sector
6.1 The Technical and Economic Characteristics of the Urban Water Sector
6.2 The Current Situation of the Privatization Reform of the Urban Water Sector
6.3 Performance Evaluations of the Private Operationalization Reform in the Urban Water Sector
6.4 Regulatory Policies for the Privatization Reform of the Urban Water Sector
Chapter 7 Performance Evaluation and Regulatory Policies for the Urban Pipeline Gas Sector
7.1 The Technical and Economic Characteristics of the Urban Pipeline Gas Sector
7.2 The Current Status of Private Operationalization in the Urban Pipeline Gas Sector
7.3 Performance Evaluations of Private Operationalization in the Urban Pipeline Gas Sector
7.4 Regulatory Policies on Private Operationalization of the Urban Pipeline Gas Sector
Chapter 8 Performance Evaluation and Regulatory Policies for the Solid Waste Disposal Sector
8.1 The Technical and Economic Characteristics of the Urban Waste Disposal Sector
8.2 The Current Status of Private Operationalization of the Urban Waste Disposal Sector…
8.3 Performance Evaluation of the Privatization Reform in the Urban Waste Disposal Sector
8.4 Regulatory Policies for the Privatization Reform of the Urban Waste Disposal Sector
Chapter 9 Fundamental Ideas of Pushing Forward the Privatization Reform of Urban Public Utilities
9.1 Construct a Regulatory Framework for the Privatization Reform of Urban Public Utilities
9.2 Restructure Urban Public Utilities to Form the Foundation of Privatization
9.3 Implement Different Regulatory Policies in Different Public Utility Sectors
9.4 Choose the Effective Form of Privatization of Urban Public Utilities
9.5 Enforce Governmental Responsibilities in the Process of Privatization of Urban Public Utilities
References
About the Authors:
Professor Wang Junhao
Wang Junhao，Doctor of Economics, Professor，Honorary Doctorate of London Metropolitan University, undertook academic studies respectively at the University of Strathclyde and Columbia University, He is the former president of Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics, Dean of the China Institute of Regulation Research. Vice Chairman of Chinese Industrial Economic Association. Special Government Allowance by the State Council of China, An outstanding talent at the national level talent projects. He concentrates his research on regulation and industrial organization, and he has published over 20 academic monographs books and over 150 academic papers in various top academic journals such as the Economic Research Journal. He was awarded the top Sun Yefang Prize for Monographs on Economics in China, the prize of National Outstanding Teaching Achievements, 3 Prizes of the top University Research Award in Humanities and Social Sciences by the Ministry of Education of China, as well as 15 first & second prizes at provincial and ministerial level, 26 consulting reports that he completed were highly remarked by the leaders from both state-level and province-level in China. As a chairperson, he has undertaken 15 projects of National Social Sciences Funds, National Natural Science Funds and National Major Special Projects of Science and Technology.
Professor Zhou Xiaomei
Zhou Xiaomei，Doctor of Management, Professor, Her main research areas are industrial organization theory, regulatory economics and health economics. She has published More than 10 monographs and textbooks. and has published more than 80 papers in academic journals such as Economic Theory and Economic Management, China's Economic Issues, Agricultural Economic Issues, International Trade Issues and Economist(China). She has undertaken two projects of the National Natural Science Foundation, one project of the Humanities and Social Sciences Research Fund of the Ministry of Education, and four projects of the Provincial Philosophy and Social Science Fund. She has won 4 provincial or ministerial-level scientific research awards.
Professor Wang Jianming
Wang Jianming, Doctor of Management, Professor, Visiting scholar at the University of Missouri-Columbia. He is the vice dean of the School of Business Administration of Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics and the dean of the Green Management Institute of this University. His main research areas are green consumer behavior and regulatory policies. He has published more than 10 monographs and textbooks. He has published more than 70 papers in academic journals such as Management World, China Industrial Economy, Management Science, Economist(China), and Journal of Cleaner Production (SCI), Journal of Environmental Planning and Management（SSCI）. He has undertaken two National Social Sciences Funds and two National Natural Science Funds, more than 10 provincial-level Funds.He has won more than 10 provincial or ministerial-level scientific research awards.
Associate Professor Li Yunyan
Li Yunyan, Doctor of Management, Associate Professor, Visiting scholar at Lingnan University in HongKong. She is the Vice-Dean of China Institute of Regulation Research. Her main research orientations include the regulation theory and policy of public utilities, urban water environment. She has published over 10 academic papers in various top academic journals such as China Industrial Economy and Academic Monthly. As a chairperson, she has successively undertaken 1 academic project of the natural science funds, 7 academic projects of provincial or ministerial-level funds, as a main participant, she has undertaken 10 academic projects at national level and won 3 provincial or ministerial-level scientific research awards.