IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ira/wpaper/201815.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

“Do public-private partnership enabling laws increase private investment in infrastructure?”

Author

Listed:
  • Daniel Albalate

    (Department of Econometrics, Statistics and Applied Economics & GiM-IREA University of Barcelona. C/ John Keynes 1-11, 08034 Barcelona. Tel: 34.93.4031131 Fax:34.93.4024573)

  • Germà Bel

    (Department of Econometrics, Statistics and Applied Economics & GiM-IREA University of Barcelona. C/ John Keynes 1-11, 08034 Barcelona. Tel: 34.93.4031131 Fax:34.93.4024573)

  • R. Richard Geddes

    (Department of Policy Analysis and Management. Cornell University 251 Martha Van Rensselaer Hall. Ithaca, NY 14853. Phone: (607) 255-8391.)

Abstract

Rising use of public-private partnerships, or PPPs, is an important development in U.S. infrastructure delivery. PPPs are detailed contracts between a public-sector infrastructure project sponsor and a private-sector provider that bundle delivery services. PPPs represent a middle ground between pure-public project delivery and complete privatization. As of 2016, thirty-five U.S. states had enacted PPP enabling laws. That legislation defines the broad institutional framework surrounding a PPP agreement. It addresses such questions as the mixing of public- and private-sector funds, the treatment of unsolicited PPP proposals, and need for prior legislative approval of PPP contracts, among other key issues. We provide the first thorough empirical assessment of the impact of PPP enabling laws on a state’s utilization of private investment. We analyze the overall effect of having a PPP enabling law while controlling for a variety of factors, including the state’s indebtedness, its broad political disposition, union membership, per-capita income, and other variables. We then assess the impact of thirteen individual PPP enabling-law provisions. We develop an expertinformed weighted index reflecting the degree to which a state’s law is encouraging or discouraging of private investment. We find that more favorable PPP enabling laws increase private investment: when our favorability index increases by one-tenth, the proportion of infrastructure investment delivered via PPP in a state increases by 0.5-0.6. We find that PPP enabling-law provisions allowing unsolicited proposals and the comingling of public and private funds are particularly important in attracting private investment.

Suggested Citation

  • Daniel Albalate & Germà Bel & R. Richard Geddes, 2018. "“Do public-private partnership enabling laws increase private investment in infrastructure?”," IREA Working Papers 201815, University of Barcelona, Research Institute of Applied Economics, revised Jul 2018.
    • Handle: RePEc:ira:wpaper:201815
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.ub.edu/irea/working_papers/2018/201815.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. 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.
    2. 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.
    3. Germà Bel & Xavier Fageda, 2009. "Factors explaining local privatization: a meta-regression analysis," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 139(1), pages 105-119, April.
    4. Mr. Etienne B Yehoue & Miss Mona Hammami & Jean-François Ruhashyankiko, 2006. "Determinants of Public-Private Partnerships in Infrastructure," IMF Working Papers 2006/099, International Monetary Fund.
    5. R. Richard Geddes, 2011. "The Road to Renewal: Private Investment in U.S. Transportation Infrastructure," Books, American Enterprise Institute, number 29723, September.
    6. Geddes, R. Richard & Wagner, Benjamin L., 2013. "Why do U.S. states adopt public–private partnership enabling legislation?," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 30-41.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Elisabetta Iossa & David Martimort, 2011. "The Theory of Incentives Applied to the Transport Sector," Chapters, in: André de Palma & Robin Lindsey & Emile Quinet & Roger Vickerman (ed.), A Handbook of Transport Economics, chapter 29, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    2. Fredrik Andersson & Henrik Jordahl & Jens Josephson, 2019. "Outsourcing Public Services: Contractibility, Cost, and Quality," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo Group, vol. 65(4), pages 349-372.
    3. Elisabetta IOSSA & Stephane SAUSSIER, 2018. "Public Private Partnerships In Europe For Building And Managing Public Infrastructures: An Economic Perspective," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 89(1), pages 25-48, March.
    4. Daniel Albalate & Germà Bel & R. Richard Geddes, 2017. "How Much Vertical Integration? Contractual Choice and Public–Private Partnerships in the United States," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 51(1), pages 25-42, August.
    5. Geddes, R. Richard & Wagner, Benjamin L., 2013. "Why do U.S. states adopt public–private partnership enabling legislation?," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 30-41.
    6. Daniel Albalate & Germà Bel & Richard R. Geddes, 2015. "“Strong versus Weak Vertical Integration: Contractual Choice and PPPs in the United States”," IREA Working Papers 201518, University of Barcelona, Research Institute of Applied Economics, revised Sep 2015.
    7. Daniel Albalate & Germà Bel & R. Richard Geddes, 2012. "“The determinants of contractual choice for private involvement in infrastructure projects in the United States”," IREA Working Papers 201220, University of Barcelona, Research Institute of Applied Economics, revised Dec 2012.
    8. David Martimort & Flavio Menezes & Myrna Wooders & ELISABETTA IOSSA & DAVID MARTIMORT, 2015. "The Simple Microeconomics of Public-Private Partnerships," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 17(1), pages 4-48, February.
    9. Ronit Mukherji, 2023. "Risk Sharing in Public-Private Partnerships," SN Operations Research Forum, Springer, vol. 4(4), pages 1-17, December.
    10. Schmitz, Patrick W., 2013. "Job design with conflicting tasks reconsidered," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 108-117.
    11. Marco Buso & Luciano Greco, 2023. "The optimality of public–private partnerships under financial and fiscal constraints," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(4), pages 856-881, October.
    12. Dmitri Vinogradov & Elena Shadrina, 2018. "Public-Private Partnerships as Collaborative Projects: Testing the Theory on Cases from EU and Russia," International Journal of Public Administration, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(5-6), pages 446-459, April.
    13. Lewis Evans & Graeme Guthrie & Neil Quigley, 2012. "Contemporary Microeconomic Foundations for the Structure and Management of the Public Sector," Treasury Working Paper Series 12/01, New Zealand Treasury.
    14. Herrera Dappe,Matias & Melecky,Martin & Turkgulu,Burak, 2022. "Fiscal Risks from Early Termination of Public-Private Partnerships in Infrastructure," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9972, The World Bank.
    15. Rabah Arezki & Patrick Bolton & Sanjay Peters & Frederic Samana & Joseph Stiglitz, 2015. "From Global Savings Glut to Financing Infrastructure: The Advent of Investment Platforms," OxCarre Working Papers 166, Oxford Centre for the Analysis of Resource Rich Economies, University of Oxford.
    16. Buso, Marco & Marty, Frederic & Tran, Phuong Tra, 2017. "Public-private partnerships from budget constraints: Looking for debt hiding?," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 56-84.
    17. Eduardo Engel & Ronald Fischer & Alexander Galetovic, 2013. "The Basic Public Finance Of Public–Private Partnerships," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 11(1), pages 83-111, February.
    18. André De Palma & Luc E. Leruth & Guillaume Prunier, 2012. "Towards a Principal-Agent Based Typology of Risks in Public-Private Partnerships," Reflets et perspectives de la vie économique, De Boeck Université, vol. 0(2), pages 57-73.
    19. Daniel Danau & Annalisa Vinella, 2013. "From fixed to state-dependent duration in public-private contracts," Economics Working Paper Archive (University of Rennes & University of Caen) 201344, Center for Research in Economics and Management (CREM), University of Rennes, University of Caen and CNRS, revised Jan 2015.
    20. Auriol, Emmanuelle & Picard, Pierre M., 2013. "A theory of BOT concession contracts," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 187-209.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Transportation infrastructure; public-private partnerships; private investment; state public-private partnership enabling laws; fiscal constraints. JEL classification:L14; L33; L51; L92; L98.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L33 - Industrial Organization - - Nonprofit Organizations and Public Enterprise - - - Comparison of Public and Private Enterprise and Nonprofit Institutions; Privatization; Contracting Out
    • L51 - Industrial Organization - - Regulation and Industrial Policy - - - Economics of Regulation
    • L92 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities - - - Railroads and Other Surface Transportation

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:ira:wpaper:201815. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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: Alicia García (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/feubaes.html .

    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.