Antonio Massarutto’s research while affiliated with University of Udine and other places

Questo articolo analizza alcuni casi di studio, riguardanti la gestione dei servizi di acqua potabile e smaltimento delle acque reflue, in quattro Paesi: Portogallo, Germania, Francia e Paesi Bassi. Lo scopo è quello di analizzare il ruolo assunto da alcuni intermediari finanziari e non come catalizzatori di finanza blended, per la gestione dei finanziamenti all'interno del settore idrico di ogni Paese preso in considerazione per l'analisi. L'idea è quella di fornire degli esempi di gestione fi-nanziaria alternativa in quelle realtà in cui la gestione della risorsa idrica è preca-ria

Publicly owned private‐law organizations represent a sort of a hybrid between pure‐public and pure‐private management forms, and a rather successful one, at least if one considers the ongoing success that such organizations encounter in many European countries, especially at the local level. Economic theory has devoted scant attention to the reasons that may confer a competitive advantage to public enterprises, vis‐à‐vis both entirely privatized companies and traditional public bureaucracies. The paper develops a conceptual framework to systematically evaluate the performances of local SoEs in relation to their ability to achieve policy goals. By considering SoEs as output‐maximizing organizations rather than profit‐maximizing ones, the proposed approach entails an interactive dialogue between evaluators, policymakers and managers to deliver better evaluation outcomes. The methodology is applied to assess the performance of a sample of local SoEs owned by the Region Friuli Venezia Giulia in Italy in an effort to support policymakers in deciding whether to maintain its shareholding participations or divest them, that is, privatizing the public services involved.

This paper discusses the state-of-the-art of the economic debate around water pricing, focussing on residential water supply and sanitation. Water pricing lays at the crossroads of many fields of economic analysis, and may be used to address many different problems: efficient allocation of water resources, ecological sustainability, guarantee of social rights, financial viability of investments. Different problems require different approaches and solutions. Rather than a “magic stick” that solves all problems by simply “getting the price right”, water charges must be seen as one of the many levers that policymakers can use: possibly a very effective one, but keeping in mind that it cannot solve all problems at the same time. Diversely from a simplistic interpretation of mainstream economics, deeply rooted in the European water policy, full-cost recovery and economic efficiency, social and ecological sustainability are separate issues that must not be confounded. This statement leads the way to a wider and more creative use of public finance.