Capitalization and Privatization in Bolivia: An Aproximation to an Evaluation

Barja, Gover and Urquiola, Miguel (2003): Capitalization and Privatization in Bolivia: An Aproximation to an Evaluation.

Abstract

The paper describes the privatization process in Bolivia, placing emphasis on the particularities of the capitalization mechanism that was used for this purpose, and the regulatory framework introduced as its essential complement. With this background, the paper then details the changes in the industrial organization and ownership patterns in the electricity, oil and gas, telecommunications, transportation, and water industries. The discussion then turns to these processes’ economic and social consequences. In the first case, the key issues are which agents benefited from the transfer of assets, and the effects on firm-level variables like investment, profitability, and transfers to the State. With regards to social outcomes, we focus on the effects on employees and consumers. For the first, interest centers on what happened to employment and wages in the sectors affected; for the second, what occurred to access and prices for privatized utilities, and to welfare more generally. This paper touches on all these issues, although in several cases a full treatment is not possible due to data limitations.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Privatization; Regulation; Economic Impact
• Subjects: L - Industrial Organization > L5 - Regulation and Industrial Policy > L51 - Economics of Regulation; L - Industrial Organization > L2 - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior; L - Industrial Organization > L9 - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities

References

Ajwad, M. and Q. Wodon (2000). ‘Bolivia Poverty Assessment’. Washington, DC: LACPREM, World Bank. Mimeo.

Antelo, E. (2000). ‘Políticas de Estabilización y Reformas Estructurales en Bolivia a Partir de 1985’. Economic Reforms Series No. 62. ECLAC/United Nations.

Baldivia, J. (1998). ‘La Capitalización’, in Las Reformas Estructurales en Bolivia. La Paz: Fundación Milenio.

Barja, G. (1999). ‘Las Reformas Estructurales Bolivianas y su Impacto sobre Inversiones’. Economic Reforms Series No. 42. ECLAC/United Nations.

Barja, G. (2000). ‘Las Leyes Sectoriales y el Sistema de Regulación Sectorial’, in Las Reformas Estructurales en Bolivia. Tomo II. La Paz: Fundación Milenio.

Estache, A., A. Gomez-Lobo, and D. Leipziger (2000). ‘Utility Privatization and the Needs of the Poor in Latin America. Have We Learned Enough to Get It Right?’. WB Working Paper. Washington, DC: World Bank.

Foster, V. (1999). ‘Literature Review for the Regional Studies Project on Privatization and Infrastructure Services for the Urban Poor’. Washington, DC: LACSFP, World Bank.

Gomez-Lobo, A., V. Foster, and J. Halpern (1999). ‘Informational and Modeling Issues Related to Water Subsidy Design’. Washington, DC: LACFSP, World Bank. Mimeo.

Hernany, W. (2000). ‘La Pobreza en Bolivia: Perfiles, Determinantes y Políticas de alivio. Periodo: 1989-1997’. La Paz: Departamento de Economía, Universidad Católica Boliviana. Tesis de grado.

Peirce, M. (ed.) (1997). Capitalization: A Bolivian Model of Social and Economic Reform. Miami: North South Center and Woodrow Wilson Center, University of Miami.

SIRESE (2000). La Regulación Sectorial en Bolivia, 1999. Annual Report. La Paz: Superintendencia General.

SITTEL (2000). Regulación de las Telecomunicaciones en Bolivia. La Paz: Informe de la Superintendencia de Telecomunicaciones.

Urquiola (1994). Participando en el Crecimiento: Expansión Económica, Distribución del ingreso y Pobreza en el Área Urbana de Bolivia – 1989-1992. La Paz, Bolivia: UDAPSO.

Urquiola, M. (Coord.) et al. (1999). Geography and Development in Bolivia: Migration, Urban and Industrial Concentration, Welfare, and Convergence, 1950-1992. La Paz: BID/Universidad Catolica Boliviana.

Waddams Price, C. and R. Hancock (2000). ‘Distributional Effects of Liberalizing UK Residential Utility Markets’. Coventry: University of Warwick, Centre for Management under Regulation. Mimeo.

Wolak, F. (1996). ‘The Welfare Impacts of Competitive Telecommunications Supply: A Household-Level Analysis’. Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Microeconomics: 269-350.

World Bank (2000). ‘Bolivia: Poverty Diagnostic 2000’. Washington, DC: World Bank. Mimeo.