Fragile State Institutional Design
Cost-Benefit Analysis of Power Sector Reform in Haiti
Working Paper, 2017
Belt, Juan, Kashi, Bahman, Mackinnon, Jay, and Allien, Nicolas
This paper provides a cost-benefit analysis of regulatory reforms in Haiti for the power sector. Numerous past reform attempts to reform have failed due to a lack of political will as well as corruption. The paper considers a multi-phase reform including corporatization, management contracts, leases and concessions, and privatization. Costs are estimated based on a similar USAID program. The economic benefits include reduced technical losses from improved management and investment. Benefits from reductions in non-technical losses were not included. The economic and financial benefit-cost ratios are estimated at 3.46 and 11.52 respectively.
Delivering Water Supply and Sanitation in Fragile States: The transition from emergency to development
Conference Report, The World Bank, 2011.
Captures main points and messages from a conference held in 2011 that initiated community of practice bringing together water supply and sanitation (WSS) sector actors involved in building core country systems. The aim was to develop action plans for resolving the capacity conundrum and transitioning the WSS sector from emergency interventions to country-led development programs.
Built on Dreams, Grounded on Reality: Economic Policy Reform in the Philippines
The Asia Foundation – Philippines, 2011.
Fabella, Raule et al.
Volume of case studies on Philippine economic policy reforms contributing to the discourse on institutional change. The cases trace the political battles involved in five successful and two unsuccessful reform efforts in telecom, sea transport, civil aviation, water privatization, property rights legislation, tax administration and the grain sectors. The cases highlight that: 1) reforms are context-specific; 2) technical analysis is insufficient to achieve reform; 3) political economy analysis and political action are important; 4) committed local leadership is the principal reform driver; 5) development agencies can play critical supportive roles but need to move towards less rigid and more locally owned projects.
An Upside Down View of Governance
Centre for the Future State and Institute of Development Studies, 2010.
Draws findings from a five-year research program and explores how elements of public authority are being created through complex processes of bargaining between state and society actors, and the interaction of formal and informal institutions.
Doing things differently: Can water supply, sanitation, and hygiene services support peace- and the state-building process?
Development Policy Review, 2015, 33(4), pp. 433-456.
Kooy, Michelle, Wild, Leni and Mason, Nathaniel.
Starts with the premise that interventions across all sectors in fragile states are called to contribute to tackling conflict and fragility despite the lack of evidence on how/if this is possible. The authors review the existing literature to identify five entry points through which WSS and service delivery might interact with state-building or peace-building processes.
External Actors, State-Building, and Service Provision in Areas of Limited Statehood: Introduction
Governance: An International Journal of Policy, Administration, and Institutions, 2014, 27(4), pp.545-567.
Krasner, Stephen D., and Risse, Thomas.
Argues that the provision of collective goods and services is possible even under extremely adverse conditions of fragile or failed statehood. The authors specify conditions under which efforts at state building and service provision by state and non-state actors can achieve their goals.
Creating Legitimacy in Weak States: Inclusiveness and Impartiality
Fragile States, 2013.
Seth Kaplan.
Discusses why fragile states lack legitimacy and how legitimacy can be overcome, with tools such as inclusive leadership and equitable government.
International Companies and Post-Conflict Reconstruction: Cross-Sectoral Comparisons
Social Development Papers, Conflict Prevention & Reconstruction, The World Bank. 2005.
Bray, John.
If policy makers are to secure maximum benefits from private investment, they need to understand how different companies and sectors view opportunity and risk, and take account of their overall impact on post-conflict settings. The paper cites examples from Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iraq, Somalia, Sierra Leone, and Timor-Leste.
The Economics of Public Infrastructure Procurement in Developing Countries: Theory and Evidence
ECARES Working Paper, Universite libre de Bruxelles, 2011.
Topics include: benefits from efficient public infrastructure procurement, theory of public infrastructure procurement, standard practices of public infrastructure procurement, theory of public infrastructure procurement, the competition effect in public infrastructure procurement, how to enhance competition, and financial needs for infrastructure reassessed.