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Soft Budgets and Renegotiations in Public-Private Partnerships

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Author Info
Eduardo Engel () (Cowles Foundation, Yale University)
Ronald Fischer (U. de Chile)
Alexander Galetovic (U. de los Andes)

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Abstract

Public-private partnerships (PPPs) are increasingly used to provide infrastructure services. Even though PPPs have the potential to increase efficiency and improve resource allocation, contract renegotiations have been pervasive. We show that existing accounting standards allow governments to renegotiate PPP contracts and elude spending limits. Our model of renegotiations leads to observable predictions: (i) in a competitive market, firms lowball their offers, expecting to break even through renegotiation, (ii) renegotiations compensate lowballing and pay for additional expenditure, (iii) governments use renegotiation to increase spending and shift the burden of payments to future administrations, and (iv) there are significant renegotiations in the early stages of the contract, e.g. during construction. We use data on Chilean renegotiations of PPP contracts to examine these predictions and find that the evidence is consistent with the predictions of our model. Finally, we show that if PPP investments are counted as current government spending, the incentives to renegotiate contracts to increase spending disappear.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Cowles Foundation, Yale University in its series Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers with number 1723.

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Length: 34 pages
Date of creation: Aug 2009
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:cwl:cwldpp:1723

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Related research
Keywords: Build-operate-and-transfer; Concessions; Lowballing;

Other versions of this item:

Find related papers by JEL classification:
H21 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Efficiency; Optimal Taxation
L51 - Industrial Organization - - Regulation and Industrial Policy - - - Economics of Regulation
L91 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities - - - Transportation: General

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References listed on IDEAS
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  1. Eduardo Engel & Ronald Fischer & Alexander Galetovic, 2007. "The Basic Public Finance of Public-Private Partnerships," Documentos de Trabajo 234, Centro de Economía Aplicada, Universidad de Chile. [Downloadable!]
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  2. Martimort, David & Pouyet, Jerome, 2008. "To build or not to build: Normative and positive theories of public-private partnerships," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 26(2), pages 393-411, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Olivier Cadot & Lars-Hendrik Röller & Andreas Stephan, 2004. "Contribution to Productivity or Pork Barrel?: The Two Faces of Infrastructure Investment," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 458, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  4. J. Luis Guasch & Stéphane Straub, 2006. "Renegotiation Of Infrastructure Concessions: An Overview," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 77(4), pages 479-493, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Bennett, John & Iossa, Elisabetta, 2006. "Building and managing facilities for public services," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(10-11), pages 2143-2160, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  6. J. Guasch & Jean-Jacques Laffont & Stéphane Straub, 2006. "Renegotiation of Concession Contracts: A Theoretical Approach," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer, vol. 29(1), pages 55-73, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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