Handbook: The Political Economy of Local Regulation

Studies in the Political Economy of Public Policy
Hardback 9781137588272
Oct 2016 £104.50 $159.00

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Alberto Asquer is Lecturer in Public Policy and Management at SOAS University of London, UK, where he acts as Programme Director of the MSc Public Policy and Management and the MSc Public Financial Management and as Director of the Centre for Water and Development. He holds an MSc and a PhD from the London School of Economics and Political Science, UK.

Franco Becchis is Scientific Director of the Turin School of Local Regulation and Foundation for the Environment, Italy, where he coordinates research and training programmes on regulation and the environment. He has been Visiting Professor at Politecnico di Torino and Università del Piemonte Orientale in Italy, Saint John International University, USA, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain, and University of Jyväskylä, Finland.

Daniele Russolillo is Programme Manager of the Turin School of Local Regulation and Foundation for the Environment, Italy, in charge of the business development and management of operations. He has been actively involved in research and capacity building projects on local public services regulation and energy and environmental policies in Europe and in developing and emerging countries.

The Political Economy of Local Regulation

Theoretical Frameworks and International Case Studies

Edited by Franco Becchis, Alberto Asquer and Daniele Russolillo

About the book
This book offers theoretical and methodological guidelines for researching the complex regulation of local infrastructure, utilities and public services in the context of rapid urbanisation, technological change, and climate change. It examines the interactions between regulators, public officers, infrastructure and utilities firms, public service providers, citizens, and civil society organisations. It contains contributions from academics and practitioners from various disciplinary perspectives and from many regions of the world, illustrated with case studies from several sectors including water, natural gas and electricity distribution, local public transport, district heating, urban waste, and environmental services.

CONTENTS

Foreword (by Prof. Yoannis Kessides, Yale University)
Introduction; Alberto Asquer, Franco Becchis and Daniele Russolillo
SECTION I
Chapter 1. Where things happen: the local dimension in regulation; Franco Becchis
Chapter 2. Researching the political economy of local regulation: theoretical and methodological issues; Alberto Asquer
Chapter 3. The FIELD methodology; Daniele Russolillo and Franco Becchis
Chapter 4. The impact of institutional and organisational factors in the efficiency and effectiveness of local regulatory systems; David Sancho
Chapter 5. What economic theory can (cannot) say about local regulation; Andrea Gallice
Chapter 6. Perspectives on civil regulation and the firm; Gary Lynch-Wood and David Horton
Chapter 7. Economics of complexity and the analysis of local regulation: the case of urban mobility; Angela Ambrosino, Elena Maggi and Elena Vallino
Chapter 8. Regulatory contracts and the scope for local decision-making with respect to energy distribution networks; Vincent Pál
SECTION II
Chapter 9. National standards, subnational enforcement: regulating US natural gas pipelines; Michael J. Brogan
Chapter 10. Water sector regulation in France: a complex multi-model and multi-level regulatory framework; Maria Salvetti and Guillem Canneva
Chapter 11. Local electricity regulation in Germany; Gerhard Fuchs
Chapter 12. Strengthening the determinants of the local government capacities for the successful PPP implementation in the Western Balkans; Tatjana Jovanic and Sladjana Sredojevic
SECTION III
Chapter 13. Regulation of small local water service providers in Mali; Martina Rama
Chapter 14. Urban water supply in the state of Karnataka, India; Arvin Shrivastava
Chapter 15. Assessment and design of local regulation of solid waste management in low- and middle-income countries; Marco Caniato
Chapter 16. Challenges and policy responses to local water management and regulation in Brazil; Sebastián López Azumendi
SECTION IV
Chapter 17. Local regulation and district heating in Italy; Fabio Massimo Esposito
Chapter 18. Control and regulation of water and sanitation services in Bulgaria: the effect on quality and efficiency; Ivalyo Katschiev
Chapter 19. A regulatory multi-level reform in the Italian urban waste service management: from several local regulatory agencies to a unique regional one; Giovanni Biagini
Chapter 20. Regulating local environmental standards through private incentives; Fausto Makishi, João Paulo Cândia Veiga, and Murilo Alves Zacareli
Chapter 21. The youth guarantee: the cases of Milan (Lombardy) and Naples (Campania); Giuseppe Acconcia and Paolo R. Graziano
Chapter 22. Urban waste management in Florence; Andrea Sbandati
Conclusion; Alberto Asquer, Franco Becchis and Daniele Russolillo

Endorsements

Y. Kessides, Yale University, USA
The ability of decentralisation to achieve its central objective of making government more responsive and efficient, and thus facilitate the provision of better public services, is critically dependent upon the quality and efficacy of local regulatory governance. This book takes an important step towards redressing this gap and imbalance in the regulation literature.

G. Brosio, University of Turin, Italy
Alberto Asquer, Franco Becchis and Daniele Russolillo have made an absolutely remarkable job in preparing this comprehensive treatise of local regulation reform all over the world. The volume provides a far-reaching collection of studies inserted in an innovative political economy framework. It should be required reading for policy-makers and scholars of the field.

J.M. Glachant, Loyola de Palacio Prof. & Director of the Florence School of Regulation, Italy
Local is where all of us: live, interact, think & rest. However, comprehensive research on local regulation is less abundant and less frequently renewed or updated. I was hungry when this tasty book entered my email box. After 25 years of regulatory menu, rebuilding a new cuisine - both theoretical and applied - was needed and long awaited.

J. A. Beecher, Director, Institute of Public Utilities, Michigan State University, USA
Like politics, all infrastructure is local. Yet our understanding of infrastructure governance at the local level does not match its importance, which by many accounts will grow with contemporary fiscal, demographic, and technological trends. This collection offers a timely contribution.