Political Economy of Power Sector Subsidies : A Review with Reference to Sub-Saharan Africa

Kojima, Masami ; Bacon, Robert ; Trimble, Chris

World Bank Group, Washington, DC

关键词: ACCESS TO ELECTRICITY;    ACCESS TO SERVICES;    ADMINISTRATIVE CAPACITY;    ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS;    ADVERSE EFFECT;   

RP-ID  :  89547

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

Power sector subsidies in Sub-SaharanAfrica are substantial and highly regressive. Whilesubsidies can be quick, easy, and politically expedient toimplement, they are equally quick to take root andchallenging to remove. Optimal policies that are technicallysound and welfare-enhancing over the long run havenevertheless been found difficult to launch and even morechallenging to sustain. Of the barriers to reform, thoseassociated with political economy are among the mostpowerful, yet their analysis is often lacking dueconsideration in the reform design process. This paperreviews the literature on power subsidies and their reformwith emphasis on the political economy of such reform. Itexamines pricing principles in the power sector anddifferent types of subsides; drivers for subsidies, benefitsand costs of subsidy reform, and their distribution; andapproaches to political economy analysis, tools available,and methodological issues. The paper draws examples fromSub-Saharan Africa and elsewhere, and presents case studiesfrom the literature.