Does local public ownership matter for the efficiency of water utilities? Evidence from Italy ∗ Meryem Duygun a , Silvia Pazzi b , Emili Tortosa-Ausina †c , and Simona Zambelli d a Business School, Hull University, Cottingham Road, Hull, North Humberside, HU6 7RX, UK. Email: M.Duygun@hull.ac.uk b School of Management, University of Leicester, Ken Edwards Building, University Road, Leicester, LE1 7RH, UK. Email: sp505@le.ac.uk c Department d’Economia and Ivie, Universitat Jaume I and Ivie, Campus del Riu Sec, 12071 Castelló de la Plana, Spain. Email: tortosa@uji.es d Dipartimento di Scienze Aziendali, Università di Bologna, Via Capo di Lucca 34, Bologna, Italy. Email: simona.zambelli@unibo.it February 15, 2015 Abstract This study explores the impact of ownership types on efficiency of Italian water utilities. Theories and evidence have shown a puzzling relationship between ownership and performance. Moreover, a recent study argues that this relationship can be further complicated by the effect of organisational and environmental variables. The current study aims to contribute to the debate about the impact of ownership structure on efficiency by including the effect of size and geographical location com- bining efficiency (obtained via nonparametric methods) with cluster analysis. The results show that ownership does not have a significant effect on efficiency per se; however the combination of size and geographical location provides interesting insights on the difference observed in the efficiency. Therefore, the paper argues that administrative reforms for institutional settings should consider a set of variables that characterise each organisation. Keywords: efficiency, geographical location, ownership, size, water utilities. JEL classification: H4, H7, H83. Communications to: Meryem Duygun, Business School, University of Hull, Room 130 Wharfe Build- ing, Cottingham Road, Hull, North Humberside, HU6 7RX, UK. Tel.: +44 (0) 1482463244, e-mail: M.Duygun@hull.ac.uk. ∗ All authors wish to thank Diego Prior and Germà Bel for helpful and constructive discussion, as well as the comments by participants at the Regional Studies Association Early Career Conference 2013 (Manchester, UK), XXI Encuentro de Economía Pública 2014 (Girona, Spain), and the 37 th European Accounting Association Annual Congress 2014 (Tallinn, Estonia). Emili Tortosa-Ausina acknowledges the financial support of the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (ECO2011-27227), as well as the Generalitat Valenciana (PROMETEOII/2014/046). The usual disclaimer applies. † Contact author.