Effects of Improving Infrastructure Quality on Business Costs : Evidence from Firm-Level Data
Economic development is affected by
infrastructure services in both volume and quality terms.
However, the quality of infrastructure is relatively
difficult to measure and assess. The current paper, using
firm-level data collected by a business environment
assessment survey in 26 countries in Europe and Central
Asia, estimates the marginal impacts on firm costs of
infrastructure quality. The results suggest that the
reliability or continuity of services is important for
business performance. Firm costs significantly increase when
electricity outages occur more frequently and the average
outage duration becomes longer. Similarly, increased hours
of water supply suspensions also reduce firms'
competitiveness. In these countries, it is found that the
total benefit for the economy from eliminating the existing
electricity outages ranges from 0.5 to 6 percent of gross
domestic product. If all water suspensions are removed, the
economy could receive a gain of about 0.5 to 2 percent of
gross domestic product. By contrast, the quality of
telecommunications services seems to have no significant impact.
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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: |
Iimi, Atsushi |
Format: | Policy Research Working Paper
biblioteca
|
Language: | English |
Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2008-03
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Subjects: | ACCESS TO SERVICES,
ASSET REPLACEMENT,
BASIC INFRASTRUCTURE,
BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT,
CENTRAL ASIAN,
CONSUMER WELFARE,
COST SAVINGS,
DISTRIBUTION LOSSES,
DRIVING,
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT,
ECONOMIC EFFECTS,
ECONOMIC GROWTH,
ECONOMIES OF SCALE,
ELASTICITIES,
ELASTICITY,
ELECTRIC POWER,
ELECTRICITY DISTRIBUTION,
ELECTRICITY INFRASTRUCTURE,
ELECTRICITY SERVICES,
ELECTRICITY SUPPLY,
FIRMS,
GENERATION,
IMPROVEMENTS IN WATER SUPPLY,
INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT,
INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT,
INFRASTRUCTURE PROVISION,
INFRASTRUCTURE SERVICES,
INVESTMENT IN INFRASTRUCTURE,
LATIN AMERICAN,
MAINTENANCE COSTS,
MONTHLY FEES,
OPERATING COST SAVINGS,
PUBLIC INFRASTRUCTURE,
PUBLIC INVESTMENT,
PUBLIC INVESTMENT IN INFRASTRUCTURE,
QUALITY OF WATER,
ROAD,
ROAD QUALITY,
ROAD SECTOR,
ROADS,
SERVICE DELIVERY,
SERVICE LEVELS,
SERVICE PROVISION,
SERVICE QUALITY,
SERVICE RELIABILITY,
SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA,
SUSTAINABLE SERVICES,
TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICES,
TRANSPORT,
TRANSPORTATION,
TRANSPORTATION COSTS,
URBAN DEVELOPMENT,
WATER INFRASTRUCTURE,
WATER OPERATORS,
WATER SECTOR,
WATER SERVICE,
WATER SERVICES,
WATER SUPPLY,
WATER SUPPLY SERVICES, |
Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2008/03/9293279/effects-improving-infrastructure-quality-business-costs-evidence-firm-level-data
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/6492
|
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