Institutional incentives and sustainable development : infrastructure policies in perspective
Looks at the difficulties in maintaining irrigation systems, road networks, and other rural infrastructure in developing countries. Describes a method for conducting a systematic comparison of alternative institutional arrangements. Advocates polycentric, self-governing institutions. Includes examples
bibliography
xxi, 266 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
9780813316185, 9780813316192, 0813316189, 0813316197
27222330
Introduction / Paul A. Sabatier
1. Role of infrastructure in development
Postwar development initiatives
Institutional approach to explaining development outcomes
Importance of physical infrastructure
What do we mean by infrastructure sustainability?
Overview of our approach
2. Problem of sustainable infrastructure
Infrastructure maintenance and its finance
Phases of infrastructure development
Factors influencing maintenance decisions of a single owner-user of private capital
3. Individuals, incentives, and transaction costs
Assumptions about the individual
Problems of contractual uncertainty and transaction costs
Information asymmetries as sources of contractual uncertainty
Kinship networks as counteracting institutions
Nepotism and corruption
4. Provision and production of rural infrastructure
Distinction between provision and production
Attributes of rural infrastructure primarily affecting provision
Attributes of rural infrastructure primarily affecting production
5. Evaluating institutional performance
Overall performance criteria
Intermediate performance criteria
6. Analyzing institutional arrangements
Institutional arrangements for private infrastructure development
Institutional arrangements for public infrastructure development
7. Centralized institutional arrangements
Centralized infrastructure development
Problem of truncated analyses
Role of donor agencies
8. Decentralized institutional arrangements
Decentralization efforts
Does administrative decentralization improve the performance of centralized national governments?
9. Polycentric institutional arrangements
Concept of polycentricity
Possibility of polycentricity in developing countries
Some common concerns about polycentric arrangements
Privatization as a form of decentralization
10. Implications of an institutional approach to sustainable development
Proposed analytical approach
General policy implications of our approach
Immediate policy implication of our approach