Factors influencing the success of PPP at feasibility stage – A tripartite comparison study in Hong Kong

Public Private Partnerships (PPP) have been used extensively in both developing and developed countries in delivering various types of projects, ranging from road construction, railway transport systems to health care facilities and schools. Critical success factors of PPP schemes at the implementation stage were identified. It is however more important for decision-makers to identify the factors for feasibility evaluation of adopting the PPP at the outset. This study aims to explore the key successful ingredients to be assessed at the initial stage of PPP projects as perceived public sector, private consortium and general community so as to attain a “triple win” scenario, via a questionnaire survey and a series of expert interviews conducted in Hong Kong. Survey results indicate that the most critical factor for evaluating the feasibility of PPP projects, especially to the general community, is an acceptable level of tariff. Cost effectiveness and financial attractiveness are the most important evaluation factors as ranked by the public sector and private consortium respectively. In addition, the existence of a long-term demand for the proposed services, availability of strong private consortium, alignment with government’s strategic objectives, as well as reliable service delivery are also rated as highly important to the success of PPP schemes. Addressing the tripartite expectations is indispensable to ensure the feasibility and successful delivery of public services and infrastructure projects via PPP schemes.     

Breaking the taboo: a history of monetary financing in Canada, 1930–1975

Monetary financing – the funding of state expenditure via the creation of new money rather than through taxation or borrowing – has become a taboo policy instrument in advanced economies. It is generally associated with dangerously high inflation and/or war. Relatedly, a key institutional feature of modern independent central banks is that they are not obligated to support government expenditure via money creation. Since the financial crisis of 2007–2008, however, unorthodox monetary policies, in particular quantitative easing, coupled with stagnant growth and high levels of public and private debt have led to questions over the monetary financing taboo. Debates on the topic have so far been mainly theoretical with little attention to the social and political dynamics of historical instances of monetary financing. This paper analyses one of the most significant twentieth‐century cases: Canada from the period after the Great Depression up until the monetarist revolution of the 1970s. The period was a successful one for the Canadian economy, with high growth and employment and manageable inflation. It offers some interesting insights into the relationship between states and central banks and present‐day discussions around the governance of money creation.     

Cost–time performance of public sector housing projects in Nigeria

The performance of the construction industry in Nigeria has consistently been a source of concern to both public and private sector clients. Previous studies have identified cost and time overruns amongst others as key performance indicators. This is particularly significant for public sector clients in Nigeria, where due to poor budgetary control, many projects have been abandoned at various stages of completion. This paper is set to evaluate the magnitude of this problem at key stages in the process, from budgetary planning to completion, using the public sector client as exploratory model.     

Cost-Time Performance of Public Sector Housing Projects in Nigeria

The performance of the construction industry in Nigeria has consistently been a source of concern to both public and private sector clients. Previous studies have identified cost and time overruns amongst others as key performance indicators. This is particularly significant for public sector clients in Nigeria, where due to poor budgetary control, many projects have been abandoned at various stages of completion. This paper is set to evaluate the magnitude of this problem at key stages in the process, from budgetary planning to completion, using the public sector client as exploratory model.     

Public-Private Partnership (PPP) as a Social Game

Discrepancy between social demands and public resources has become apparent in many countries worldwide. Institutions and industries involved in public services seek new forms of collaboration and combine all available public and private skills to circumvent problems. Advocates of public-private partnership (PPP) assess the progress as convincing. Reserved observers argue that the technique has immanent weaknesses. Putting the phenomena, experience, and discussion into a wider context of gaming helps to arrive at a better comprehension. The paper focuses on road transportation infrastructure issues but its conclusions are of broader interest. Four perspectives are chosen to discuss PPP as a gaming issue. Linguistics, the mathematical theory of games, experimental psychology and the theory of institutions offer useful analytical concepts, theorems and approaches. The gaming perspective allows us to identify and define more clearly several uncertain or misinterpreted situations or actions experienced in PPP implementations. The conceptual identification of positions, motivations and further characteristics is not only possible but helps all partners to better understand the structure, the rules and roles given in the procedure. Use of the gaming perspective in PPP issues seems to enhance 'fair play'. Expected trends of development and further areas of suggested research are derived from the conclusions and conjectures. Application of the gaming perspective is recommended in the development of project delivery techniques, education and training.     

地铁经济中的公私合作——北京地铁4号线项目的运营、经验和意义

北京地铁4号线项目是我国轨道交通领域首先采用公私合作投融资模式建设并获得成功的基础设施项目,该项目降低了政府投资风险,引入了市场竞争机制,取得了良好的经济效益和社会效益。本文重点分析了北京地铁4号线公私合作项目投融资模式的运作思路、程序、成本收益、创新性以及存在问题,以求为未来我国城市基础设施建设的投融资运作提供一定的经验和借鉴意义。     

Female labour force integration and the alleviation of urban poverty: a case study of Kingston,Jamaica

The author posits that female labor force integration in Jamaica accomplishes little in alleviating poverty and making maximum use of human resources. Women are forced into employment in a labor market that limits their productivity. Women have greater needs to increase their economic activity due to price inflation and cuts in government spending. During the 1980s and early 1990s the country experienced stabilization and structural adjustment resulting in raised interest rates, reduced public sector employment, and deflated public expenditures. Urban population is particularly sensitive to monetary shifts due to dependency on social welfare benefits and lack of assets. Current strategies favor low wage creation in a supply-side export-oriented economy. These strategies were a by-product of import-substitution industrialization policies during the post-war period and greater control by multilateral financial institutions in Washington, D.C. The World Bank and US President Reagan's Caribbean Basin Initiative stressed export-oriented development. During the 1980s, Jamaican government failed to control fiscal policy, built up a huge external debt, and limited the ability of private businessmen to obtain money for investment in export-based production. Over the decade, uncompetitive production declined and light manufacturing increased. Although under 10% of new investment was in textile and apparel manufacturing, almost 50% of job creation occurred in this sector and 80% of all apparel workers were low-paid women. Devaluation occurred both in the exchange rate and in workers' job security, fringe benefits, union representation, and returns on skills. During 1977-89 women increased employment in the informal sector, which could not remain competitive under devaluation. Women's stratification in the labor market, high dependency burdens, and declining urban infrastructure create conditions of vulnerability for women in Jamaica.     

Privatisation Results: Private Sector Participation in Water Services After 15 Years

Privatisation of public infrastructure has been the mantra of many development agencies since the late 1980s. Water supply is no exception, and various forms of private sector participation (PSP) have been tried in the water and sanitation sector. This article examines the results of these experiments. It suggests that PSP has had mixed results and that in several important respects the private sector seems to be no more efficient in delivering services than the public sector. Despite growing evidence of failures and increasing public pressure against it, privatisation in water and sanitation is still alive, however. Increasingly, it is being repackaged in new forms such as that of public‐private partnership.     

BOON OR BURDEN? THE EFFECT OF PRIVATE SECTOR DEBT ON THE RISK OF SOVEREIGN DEFAULT IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

We explore how the share of the private sector in total external debt affects perceived creditworthiness and the likelihood of sovereign default in developing countries. While there are theoretical arguments both in favor and against a stabilizing role of private‐sector borrowing, the evidence supports the notion that a greater share of the private sector in total external debt is associated with a reduced likelihood of sovereign default. (JEL F34, O16)     

城镇化过程中投融资问题研究——基于公共服务的视角

由于现有的公共服务存在着种种不足,我国城镇化发展速度受到一定的制约。通过投融资体制机制的创新来促进公共服务的有效供给,一方面能够显著加快我国新型城镇化的进程,另一方面也能有效提高城镇化的质量。构建与新型城镇化相适应的投融资机制,应满足可持续性和多样性的原则,从多渠道为公共服务的供给筹集资金;增强地方财政在城镇化进程中的自我发展能力,建立稳定的筹资机制;建立政府、企业和个人共同投资的多元化投融资机制,通过市场机制为城镇化建设融资拓宽渠道;引导和支持民间资本进入基础产业、基础设施建设、市政公用事业、社会事业、金融服务等领域,创造良好的投资环境,推进公共服务和公共产品提供方式的社会化和市场化。     

Policy strategies for economic development in Cuba: A simulation model analysis

The economic reforms implemented in Cuba since 2008 do not adequately deal with the structural issues that hamper the country's economic development. The article presents a system dynamics model to investigate Cuba's development process, and a simulation analysis to compare different policy scenarios that may be realized in the future as economic reforms will continue. The results indicate that the most effective development policy would be to combine active public policies to enhance the research and development sector on the one hand, and to foster the emergence of an efficient private sector that will develop the capital infrastructure of the economy on the other.     

REDUCING PUBLIC‐PRIVATE SECTOR PAY DIFFERENTIALS: THE SINGLE SPINE PAY POLICY AS A NATURAL EXPERIMENT IN GHANA

Empirical studies have documented the existence of the public‐private pay differentials in both developed and developing countries. The implementation of policies aiming to reduce this gap has however been mitigated or inconclusive. This paper exploits the Single Spine Pay Policy (SSPP) in Ghana as a natural experiment to examine the effectiveness of wage policies in developing countries. The SSPP was implemented in 2010 by the Government of Ghana to address the public‐private sector wage gap and improve productivity in the public sector. Using a quantile treatment effect approach based on a difference‐in‐difference estimation, we show that the SSPP has yet to reduce the wage gap between the public and private sectors across the entire distribution of earnings in Ghana. The improvement observed is only at the lower tail of the distribution of earnings. However, the SSPP has a larger effect on the earnings of female workers than that of males in the education and health services sectors while male workers have benefited more in the administration sector, suggesting that the policy was successful in reducing the gender wage gap in the education and health services sectors but has widened this gap in the administration sector. Moreover, the SSPP has decreased the productivity of workers across the distribution of earnings, mainly due to a decrease in the effort of female public sector workers in the education and health sectors and male workers in the administration sector. (JEL C31, G15, J24, J31, J45)     

Structural changes in the receiving country and future labor migration--the case of Kuwait

This article describes changes in the volume, age and sex composition, retention, productivity, types of occupation, and economic sector of the labor force in Kuwait. The focus is on the structural changes in the indigenous labor force. Data were obtained from censuses and labor force surveys during 1965-93. Policies after the 1990 invasion pertained primarily to security of public employment sector among natives. Over 98% of private sector employment is among non-Kuwaitis. Government programs support high fertility. Female illiteracy has declined, and the proportion of women with a higher education has increased. Natives comprised 20.4% of the total labor force in 1993. About 90% of native males work in the public sector. 45% of total male employment is in the production sector. Around 50% of non-Kuwaiti males have been employed in production work over the decades. Over 90% of Kuwaiti females in 1993 worked in professional or clerical work. Over 50% of total female labor force participation is in the service sector. Concentration in the public sector increased for Kuwaitis and declined for non-Kuwaitis. Labor force participation declined with increasing age. Retirement benefits encouraged early retirement. The private sector is experiencing the departure of long-term migrants and more rapid turnover of labor. Hours of work are longer in the private sector. Kuwait is still dependent on foreign workers in the production and service industries. It is likely that native male workers will replace foreign workers in professional work and administrative/clerical work. Policies that will assure future reliance on imported labor include the assurance of government jobs for Kuwaitis, retirement rules, and the profitability of the trade in labor.     

Private Provision of Infrastructure in Emerging Markets: Do Institutions Matter?

Governments in developing countries have encouraged private sector investment to meet the growing demand for infrastructure. According to institutional theory, the role of institutions is paramount in private sector development. A longitudinal dataset of 40 developing economies between 1990 and 2000 is used to test empirically how different institutional structures affect private investment in infrastructure, in particular its volume and frequency. The results indicate that property rights and bureaucratic quality play a significant role in promoting private infrastructure investment. Interestingly, they also suggest that countries with higher levels of corruption attract greater private participation in infrastructure.     

我国地方政府性债务及其风险防范

加强地方债务风险的控制和管理是确保当前我国经济"稳中有进"方针的重要举措,要正确看待我国地方政府性债务存在的问题,通过分析其产生的原因,借鉴发达国家防范地方债务风险的经验和美国底特律市政府破产的教训,进一步完善针对地方政府融资行为的约束机制,引导地方政府合理控制债务规模。具体做法是:继续规范和清理地方融资平台;建立科学合理的地方政府性债务管理模式;充分利用民间资本缓解地方政府债务压力;建立地方干部问责制;加快财税体制改革。     

China's development loans and the threat of debt crisis in Kenya

The increased access of African countries to external capital markets has rekindled interest in growing external borrowing and placed debt sustainability at the forefront of the continent's policy agenda. In this article, we discuss the conceptual link between external loans and debt challenges. In this article, the analysis is cast in the context of new sources of loans triggered by Sino–African co‐operation. The article examines the main sectors targeted for financing in Kenya, how the Chinese‐funded projects have been structured, the financial models adopted to deliver on the projects, and the overall gains from such projects. Ultimately, the article examines the external debt situation in Kenya and how Chinese loans are likely to precipitate a crisis of sustainability. The analysis shows that, although the external financial support plays a critical role in addressing the gap in Kenya's infrastructure development, the loans also pose risks of debt sustainability in the longer term, Chinese loans particularly are tied and lack transparency. The emerging debt challenges point to the need for policy reforms in favour of enhancing loans transparency and the beneficial impacts. This would enhance the repayment capacity of borrowing countries.     

Comparing Public and Private Sector Decision-Making Practices

Public and private sector decision making is studied with anexperiment. The study compares decision making in a tax-supportedgeneral purpose governmental agency with that done by a businessfirm selling to a market, using a simulation to capture differencesin the preferences and practices of mid-level managers workingin the two sectors. The simulation calls for participating managersto assess the risk and prospect of adopting budgets tailoredto match each sector. A cognitive culture that stresses analysis,speculation, bargaining, or networking is employed to fashiona budget appropriate for a public and a private sector organization,each with a controversial and a noncontroversial budget amount.The literature on public/private differences was consulted tomake predictions, suggesting that public sector managers wouldfavor bargaining and networking and private sector managerswould favor analysis and speculation. The cognitive style literaturesuggests that managers favor budgets constructed with an approachthat is consistent with their preferred cognitive style andsee less risk in the choice, except in a public setting whererisk would be unaffected. The study finds that private sectormanagers are more apt to support budget decisions made withanalysis and less likely to support them when bargaining isapplied. Public sector managers are less likely to support budgetdecisions backed by analysis and more likely to support thosethat are derived from bargaining with agency people.     

The operations and effectiveness of public and private provision of solid waste collection services in Kampala

This paper compares the operations and discusses the effectiveness of public and private sector provision of solid waste collection in Kampala, Uganda. Household data suggest that the private sector is more effective than the public sector. Private sector companies provide services like container provision and providing timely and fixed collection time tables. Contrary to popular perception, fees charged by private companies are moderate. Public sector clients are charged fees even when the service is supposed to be free. Clients of private sector providers are more satisfied than those of public sector providers. It is however, revealed that while public sector serve mainly the low incomes, the private sector serves mainly the rich. In spite of these notable differences, clients of both public and private sector perceive the problem of solid waste management (SWM) in Kampala to be very serious. The effectiveness of public and private sector operations in solid waste collection in Kampala is hampered by corruption and lack of transparency. Given the situation of open competition for clients involving both public and private sector in Kampala, it is possible the public sector can operate effectively if they start commercial services officially like their private sector counterparts. This calls for a formal public-private partnership where the public and private sector can work together with the public sector dominating poor and marginalized areas while the private sector concentrates on rich neighborhoods.     

Medical tourism: reverse subsidy for the elite

The medical tourism sector in India has attracted global attention, given its phenomenal growth in the past decade. India is second only to Thailand in the number of medical tourists that it attracts every year. Estimates indicate that the medical tourism market in India could grow from $310 million in 2005 to $2 billion by 2012. These figures are significant when contrasted with India's overall health care expenditure - $10 billion in the public sector and $50 billion in the private sector. Factors that have contributed to this growth include the relative proficiency in English among health care providers and the cost effectiveness of medical procedures in India. Generally, most procedures in Indian hospitals cost a quarter (or less) of what they would cost in developed countries. The expansion of medical tourism has also been fueled by the growth of the private medical sector in India, a consequence of the neglect of public health by the government. India has one of the poorest records in the world regarding public financing and provisioning of health care. A growing driver of medical tourism is the attraction of facilities in India that offer access to assisted reproductive care technologies. Ironically, this is in sharp contrast with the acute neglect of the health care needs of Indian women. The Indian government is vigorously promoting medical tourism by providing tax concessions and by creating an environment enabling it to thrive. However, there is a distinct disjunction between the neglect of the health care needs of ordinary Indians and public policy that today subsidizes the health care of wealthy foreigners.