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The Basic Public Finance of Public-Private Partnerships

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Abstract

Public-private partnerships (PPPs) have been justified because they release public funds or save on distortionary taxes. However, the resources saved by a government that does not finance the upfront investment are offset by giving up future revenue flows to the concessionaire. If a PPP can be justified on efficiency grounds, the PPP contract that optimally balances demand risk, userfee distortions and the opportunity cost of public funds has a minimum revenue guarantee and a revenue cap. The optimal contract can be implemented via a competitive auction with reasonable informational requirements. The optimal revenue guarantees, revenue sharing agreements and auction mechanisms are different from those observed in the real world. In particular, the optimal contract duration is shorter in demand states where the revenue cap binds. These results also have implications for budgetary accounting of PPPs, as they show that their fiscal impact resembles that of public provision, rather than privatization.

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  • Eduardo Engel & Ronald Fischer & Alexander Galetovic, 2007. "The Basic Public Finance of Public-Private Partnerships," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 1618, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University, revised Jan 2011.
    • Handle: RePEc:cwl:cwldpp:1618
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Bundling; Cost of public funds; Demsetz auction; Minimum revenue guarantees; Privatization; Revenue and profit caps; Scope of government; Subsidies;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H21 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Efficiency; Optimal Taxation
    • H54 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Infrastructures
    • L51 - Industrial Organization - - Regulation and Industrial Policy - - - Economics of Regulation
    • R42 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Transportation Economics - - - Government and Private Investment Analysis; Road Maintenance; Transportation Planning

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