IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/pal/compes/v66y2024i1d10.1057_s41294-023-00213-x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Public Finance, Fiscal Rules and Public–Private Partnerships: Lessons for Post-COVID-19 Investment Plans

Author

Listed:
  • Alessandra Cepparulo

    (Sapienza University of Rome)

  • Giuseppe Eusepi

    (Sapienza University of Rome)

  • Luisa Giuriato

    (Sapienza University of Rome)

Abstract

We explore the distribution of public–private partnerships (PPPs) among the European Union countries, with a special focus on fiscal rules and budgetary constraints while controlling for empirically identified drivers. While offering the opportunity to increase innovation and efficiency in the public sector infrastructure, PPPs allow governments to relax their budget and borrowing constraints. We find that the state of public finances influences the government’s choice of PPPs and makes them more appealing for reasons other than efficiency. Stringent numerical rules on the budget balance also foster government’s opportunism in the choice of PPPs. On the other hand, high levels of public debt increase the country risk, and discourage private investors from PPP contracts. The results highlight the importance of restoring PPP investment choices based on efficiency criteria and adapt fiscal rules to shield public investment while stabilizing private expectations by means of credible trajectories of debt reduction. The findings contribute to the debate on the role of fiscal rules in fiscal policy and of PPPs in infrastructure financing.

Suggested Citation

  • Alessandra Cepparulo & Giuseppe Eusepi & Luisa Giuriato, 2024. "Public Finance, Fiscal Rules and Public–Private Partnerships: Lessons for Post-COVID-19 Investment Plans," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 66(1), pages 191-213, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:compes:v:66:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1057_s41294-023-00213-x
    DOI: 10.1057/s41294-023-00213-x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s41294-023-00213-x
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1057/s41294-023-00213-x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Public–private partnerships; Fiscal illusion; Budget constraints; Fiscal rules; Investment; European union;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C23 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models
    • H54 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Infrastructures
    • L32 - Industrial Organization - - Nonprofit Organizations and Public Enterprise - - - Public Enterprises; Public-Private Enterprises
    • E62 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Fiscal Policy; Modern Monetary Theory

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pal:compes:v:66:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1057_s41294-023-00213-x. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.palgrave-journals.com/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.