2c-management – Manny Teodoro

Profits of Distrust at Seminary Co-op Bookstore 🎦

A conversation with Sabina Shaikh, University of ChicagoThe burgeoning bottled water industry presents a paradox: Why do people choose expensive, environmentally destructive bottled water, rather than cheaper, sustainable, and more rigorously regulated tap water?

Assistance program administration & distributional impacts 💻

A thought experiment and back-of-envelope illustrationWater/sewer utility customer assistance programs (CAPs) don’t run themselves. When utilities use rate revenue to pay for CAPs, administrative costs can quickly eat into benefits that such programs can

First, do no harm 💻

Administratively costly assistance programs can hurt more than they helpperpetually stylish. timelessly true.Water and sewer affordability is a complicated challenge that demands a multifaceted solution; to meet that challenge, I’ve developed five pillars of

The Profits of Distrust 📖

Cambridge University Press, 2022The choices people make about drinking water reveal deeper lessons about trust in government and civic life.The burgeoning bottled water industry presents a paradox: Why do people choose expensive, environmentally destructive

Defensive Spending 💻

The first pillar of affordability is QualityGotta count the bottles and the billsSo long as water and sewer services operate on a fee-for-service basis, ensuring that these critical services are affordable will remain a

The Revolution Will Not be Legislated 💻

Notes on the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, Part IIIWater professionals of America, unite!Late last year Congress passed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, authorizing $63.3 billion

The Sweet Spot 💻

How much consolidation is enough?You know it when you hit the sweet spot.There’s a growing consensus that there are way too many water utilities in the United States.America’s 50,000 community water systems are operated

SNAP H2O 💻

Better federal water bill assistance with this one weird trickKeys to affordable water bills?When Congress created a new $638 million federal Low Income Household Water Assistance Program (LIHWAP) last December, it was part of

Environmental Federalism in Indian Country 🎓

Sovereignty, primacy & environmental protectionPolicy Studies Journal, May 2020Mellie Haider, Manuel P. TeodoroThe landmark American environmental laws of the 1970s originally made no mention of American Indian tribal lands, and subsequent research on environmental

Batting .400 💻

On the limits of means-tested assistance programs for water & sewerRed Sox legend Ted Williams was the last player to bat over .400... in 1941**Warning: sports metaphor ahead**Like hitting a baseball, running a means-tested

Ready, Fire, Aim 💻

Managing the $638 million low-income water & sewer assistance in the federal COVID relief packageNow what?As frequent readers of this page likely know, the COVID relief bill that Congress passed in December included $638

Graphic Realism 💻

Organization of U.S. drinking water utilities in a few simple figuresHere are some graphs that convey a few key things about the organization of drinking water utilities in the United States.*Sources: Energy Information Administration

Prevent Defense 💻

Playing to win not to lose in water utility managementNature's Prevent DefenseWarning: strained sports metaphor coming.It’s late January, and the National Football League season soon reaches its climax with the Super Bowl. Both of

The Plan 💻

A five-point proposal to transform the U.S. water sectorAs daunting as the challenges in the U.S. water sector are, solutions are possible and within our grasp. Thanks to legions of smart, creative scientists and

Water Color 💻

Water Sector Reform #5: Environmental JusticePhoto credit: EJCW.orgWith a major federal investment in water infrastructure possibly on the horizon, the United States has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to leverage that money into a structural transformation of

Smart People 💻

Water Sector Reform #4: Human CapitalPeople + PipesWith a major federal investment in water infrastructure possibly on the horizon, the United States has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to leverage that money into a structural transformation

Time Warp 💻

Water Sector Reform #3: Smart SystemsSewer inspectors: Old School & New SchoolWith a major federal investment in water infrastructure possibly on the horizon, the United States has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to leverage that money

Race, Ethnicity, and Water Service Experiences 💻

Black, White, and Hispanic Americans experience water utility service differentlyThese women all seem happy with their water. But what discontents lurk behind those smiles?Over the past couple of years there’s been a growing recognition

Paper Pushing 💻

Devils (and angels) in the details, Part 4Nobody wants to talk about this partIn early January the California Water Board published its long-anticipated draft proposal for a statewide low-income water bill assistance program. In the

New Jersey’s Water Quality [Achievement] Act 💻

Former Mayor Lester Taylor, talking about East Orange's reinvestment in its water systemThe Garden State has quietly enacted a law that could transform water infrastructure in America.Signed during Governor Christie’s waning days in office,

Income and Water Service Experiences 💻

Another way in which it’s tough to be poorBetter with more moneyDrinking water utilities are great, but they aren’t perfect. Sometimes there are problems. Do those problems occur randomly? Or are there observable patterns

Inoculation & Therapy 💻

Yeah this stinks kid, but it beats smallpoxWhy rate structures, not assistance programs, offer the most promising path to water affordabilityWhen discussions of water and sewer affordability turn to policy solutions, they typically focus

Why now | Why us | Why it matters 💻

Remarks from the opening plenary session of the AWWA/WEF Transformative Issues SymposiumEarlier this week the American Water Works Association and Water Environment Federation hosted their first-ever Transformative Issues Symposium, a two-day meeting focused on a

Answering the Bell 💻

Social science and defying the choice between clean and affordable waterThomas Hearns, the Motor City Cobra. One of my all-time favorites. Warning: sports cliché coming.Boxing is more popular as a literary metaphor than as a

Hyperopia at the tap 💻

hyperopia (hīˌpə-rōˈpē-ə). n. A condition in which visual images come to a focus behind the retina of the eye and vision is better for distant than for near objectsLast week I had the pleasure of speaking

Conference Room 💻

On the proliferation of water conferencesI like conferences. That’s a good thing, because academics attend a lot of conferences. The conference circuit is especially busy for those of us who do significant interdisciplinary and

Human Capital as Infrastructure 💻

This is the fourth in my series of posts on the recently released White House infrastructure plan.Release of the White House infrastructure plan triggered a flurry of news about the nation’s ports, dams, water

Private dollars for public works 💻

This is the second in my series of posts on the recently released White House infrastructure plan.We’re at a strange point in America’s fiscal history.Cash on corporate ledgers is high, bond rates remain at

Drinking from the Talent Pool 🎓

A Resource Endowment Theory of Human Capital and Agency PerformancePAR: Public Administration ReviewManuel P. Teodoro & David SwitzerThis article advances a resource endowment theory of human capital and performance in government organizations. Building on

Water Utility Executive Leadership for the 21st Century 📜

Water Research FoundationManuel Teodoro & Linda ReekieThis study developed a summary of the drinking water community executive ranks, including their demographics, educational qualifications, professional backgrounds, skills, career paths, and personalities. This information reveals who

Moving In, Managing Up 🎓

Executive job formation and political behaviourJournal of Public PolicyManuel P. TeodoroPublic agency executive jobs are temporary matches of individual bureaucrats with government employers. Together, the buyers and sellers of executive labour form jobs in

The Institutional Politics of Water Conservation 🎓

Journal AWWAManuel P. TeodoroThis article analyzes the influence of local governmental structures on the likelihood that utilities adopt one of two water conservation policies: conservation rates and landscape audits. Statistical analysis tests the effects

Bureaucratic Job Mobility & the Diffusion of Innovations 🎓

AJPS: American Journal of Political ScienceManuel P. TeodoroIn studies of innovation, policy entrepreneurs recognize latent demand for new policies and then expend resources to promote them. But studies of policy entrepreneurs have generally focused