Public–private partnerships (PPPs) are arrangements between government and private actors with the objective of providing public infrastructure, facilities and services. Three fundamental questions frame the use of PPPs at the local level: What do PPPs look like? What gives rise to the use of PPPs? And, what are the outcomes of PPPs? The articles in this book provide insightful answers to these questions. In addition, the contributions in the book identify lines of research that invite further investigation, namely: problems related to the degree of risk transfer; the challenges posed by renegotiation; and evaluation of PPPs’ results. The content of this book will be of interest for scholars, policy analysts, and policy makers. This book was published as a special issue of Local Government Studies.

In The Road to Renewal, R. Richard Geddes surveys the current state of U.S. ground transportation and finds that, like the roads themselves, transportation policy is in desperate need of repair. A shift toward increased use of public-private partnerships (PPPs)-contractual agreements that allow private participation in the design, construction, operation, and delivery of transportation facilities-could significantly improve the quality of U.S. roadways.

This book discusses the role of public-private partnerships (PPPs) in global transportation infrastructure. Seen as a way to provide vital services in an era of shrinking government budgets, public-private partnerships have become an increasingly important part of travel infrastructure worldwide. This book describes and analyzes the structure of various models of PPPs in various countries, evaluating their effectiveness, and drawing policy implications for future use. Written by leading international researchers and practitioners in the transportation field, each chapter is a case study on the adoption, implementation, and outcome of transportation services in different municipalities. Taken together, these diverse case studies provide an integrated framework for evaluating and using PPPs. Providing rigorous empirical analysis of PPPs in transportation, this volume will be of interest to researchers in public administration, political science, and economics as well as practitioners and policymakers involved in establishing and monitoring PPPs in transportation.

Investment in infrastructure can be a driving force of the economic recovery in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic in the context of shrinking fiscal space. Public-private partnerships (PPP) bring a promise of efficiency when carefully designed and managed, to avoid creating unnecessary fiscal risks. But fiscal illusions prevent an understanding the sources of fiscal risks, which arise in all infrastructure projects, and that in PPPs present specific characteristics that need to be addressed. PPP contracts are also affected by implicit fiscal risks when they are poorly designed, particularly when a government signs a PPP contract for a project with no financial sustainability. This paper reviews the advantages and inconveniences of PPPs, discusses the fiscal illusions affecting them, identifies a diversity of fiscal risks, and presents the essentials of PPP fiscal risk management.

There is a growing interest in Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs), particularly in infrastructure and public services. Under the scope of PPPs, renegotiations are becoming more relevant, as empirical evidence suggests that most PPP projects are inevitably renegotiated, i.e., the original contract needs to be adapted to new and unforeseen circumstances. Renegotiations have a substantial impact on the contract and performance of a PPP and usually represent significant costs for users and taxpayers. However, very little is known about the management and, mainly, the process of renegotiating that will, very likely, occur. This book provides a set of case-studies of PPP renegotiations in the transport sector. The authors illustrate the Portuguese experience, a country that has been using PPP extensively, particularly in transport. The case studies provide an extensive and detailed analysis on each aspect of the project and the renegotiation. What drives renegotiations? Why are some projects more renegotiated than others? What are the results? How can the performance of renegotiation processes be improved? These and other questions provide the basis for the discussions in this book. The novelty and value of the book come mainly from the extent of information available. Each case-study deals with these questions in much more detail than what is common in the case-studies approach.

This insightful book critically examines the phenomenon of public private partnerships through a global, theoretical, lens. It considers the reasons for merging private entities and public administration, as well as the processes and consequences of doing so. The benefits for the community as well as the radical changes in the principles and modalities of administrative activity are theorized and discussed.