Albalate, Daniel, 1980-Bel i Queralt, Germà, 1963-González Gómez, FranciscoPicazo Tadeo, Andrés José2022-01-182024-02-282022-020957-1787https://hdl.handle.net/2445/182473This paper studies the dynamics of concentration in the Spanish market for the provision of urban water service by private contract operators in the 2000-2020 period. The market is highly concentrated. Concentration increased until 2007, at which point it started to decline when Law 30/2007 on Public Sector Contracts and Organic Law 8/2007 on Politi-cal Party Financing were passed; before rising again from 2016 onwards. This latter trend results from strategic behaviour by the two leading operators, acquiring smaller compa-nies with a notable presence in some regional markets. Further legislative reforms aimed at safeguarding space for competition are thus proposed.application/pdfengcc-by-nc-nd (c) Elsevier Ltd, 2022https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/Distribució de l'aiguaPolítica hidràulicaPrivatitzacióLegislacióDistribution of waterWater politicsPrivatizationLegislationinfo:eu-repo/semantics/article7142572022-01-18info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess