Do private water tankers in Bangalore exhibit "mafia-like" behavior?

While there is an increasing acceptance in academic literature about the importance of informal water delivery in cities around the developing world, public opinion is often divided. Many citizens see informal water vendors as businesses controlled by extortionary "mafias" and call for government regulation. This thesis explores whether government regulation is justified in the case of Bangalore, India where water issues have become increasingly pressing and informal water vendors, also known as the "water mafia," have grown in number and in influence. In particular, this thesis will explore whether private tankers display any form of anti-competitive behavior by addressing two questions: 1) Do private water tankers exhibit monopoly power, and 2) Do private water tanker prices vary depending on the characteristics of the customers they serve? Evidence collected in July-August 2014 and January 2015 indicates that tankers do not operate in an anti-competitive manner and that government intervention is not justified on these grounds. However, tankers do contribute to declining groundwater levels and government intervention on these grounds ought to be explored.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Urban Studies and Planning.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2015

Author dc:creator

• Rajashekar, Anirudh V

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Bishwapriya Sanyal.

• Urban Studies and Planning.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/99090

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/99090