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Public-private partnerships (PPPs) are characterised by contracts which are necessarily incomplete due to the complexity of their contractual specifications for the contracted services combined with the long-term legal obligations they create. This creates high transaction costs including sharing (and so bearing) risks. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the link between risk sharing and governance, providing a new perspective for analysis with less emphasis on transaction costs and more on PPPs as strategic alliances.

Three main issues are analysed. First, the definition of PPP in terms of both the type of arrangements and the actors involved, structures varying from one country to another and between contracts. Second, the definition of strategic alliance, identifying which form(s) of PPP is a strategic partnership. Third, reconsideration of incomplete contract theory to identify the circumstances where a strategic alliance can accommodate high transaction costs.

The paper concludes that establishing PPPs as strategic alliances could rectify problems of incomplete contracts by implementing a multidimensional (rather than technocratic) approach to risk governance.

The contribution to knowledge provided by this study is rooted in the conceptualization of PPPs as strategic alliances by distinguishing the tangible characteristics of strategic alliance related to the letter of the contract from the intangible characteristics related to the spirit of the contract with the main purpose being to create both public and private value.

The purpose of this paper is to detect how Value for Money (VfM) in Italian Project Finance (PF) investments can be enhanced and challenging criticalities minimized, with a synergistic interaction of macroeconomic, legal and institutional actions.

Analysis of VfM quantitative key drivers, within a public-private partnership (PPP) framework with specific reference to a recession context, with infrastructural capital rationing implications. Empirical evidence is given by an Italian PF healthcare model, testing the impact of legal and macroeconomic changes.

Deleverage, ignited by W-shaped recession, disinflates PPP investments, so forcing to innovative and penniless solutions. Unreliable and short-sighted legislation and consequent unfriendly business climate may frighten investors, so decreasing competition and VfM.

VfM sensitivity to macroeconomic and legal/institutional parameters is too wide and capriciously erratic to be comprehensively modeled. Tips for further research include pro-growth tax and budgetary policies, risk minimization issues and other synergistic targets.

Guidance to regulators to fine tune legal and institutional tools, so as to create a stable, business friendly environment. Recessions may be softened by sensitive policymaking, or exacerbated by short-sighted ignorance and lack of strategic focus.

Unprecedented analysis of legal and macroeconomic changes on VfM in Italian PF investments, with original tips for VfM optimization, in a comprehensive PPP framework.

Public-private partnership (PPP) growth is often related to infrastructure development needs and public debt increase. Despite huge infrastructure (re)construction needs, the number of PPP projects in Croatia has been rather small so far. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the prospects for PPP projects development in Croatia in the near future. It is examined whether the stance of local authorities towards implementing PPP projects depends more on the necessity of developing infrastructure needs of local citizens or on the available funds for capital investments in local budgets, which are, after covering all operational expenditures, scarce.

The Municipal Assemblies in European Local Governance (MAELG) survey data for Croatia are combined with available secondary data on local budgets’ revenues and expenditures in the period from 2008 to 2010 for the surveyed local government units. The differences between the answers of local representatives were tested for statistical significance by Pearson χ2 test, while ANOVA is used for testing statistical significance of budgetary data comparison. Some descriptive statistics’ results are also used. Apart from the quantitative data, qualitative research on PPPs, especially for fiscally constraint governments is used throughout the paper.

The main findings of the paper are that most Croatian local units are severely fiscally constraint to implement any capital projects. Their public revenues are often reserved for covering operational expenditures only. Since local representatives are mostly affirmative towards private sector involvement in providing public services, there is a room for PPP projects in Croatia. Due to the fact that every PPP contract requires active participation of the public partner, two possible solutions are proposed: pooled financing with a possible option of project’ bonds issuance to institutional investors and engaging publicly owned assets into infrastructure projects’ development.

The value of this paper is that it showed that there is little room for financing infrastructure development in Croatia if budgetary rules are followed straightforward. The paper aims to show fiscally constraint local governments a possible way for financing capital projects and rendering public services to their citizens. These solutions may also be applied in other indebted countries, especially if they own a significant portion of public assets.

The use of public-private partnerships (P3s) for infrastructure delivery, particularly for highway projects, has been increasing in the USA. The purpose of this paper is to empirically evaluate the difference of P3s and non-P3 highway projects, in terms of their costs and efficiency.

An empirical model of highway construction costs was estimated using a linear regression model that explicitly accounts for the cost differential between the contracts. The differences between efficiencies was also evaluated through a two-stage analysis, where projects’-specific technical efficiencies were first estimated using stochastic frontier analysis and data envelopment analysis, and then the difference in technical efficiencies between the two groups were evaluated through non-parametric tests of means.

Controlling for various project characteristics, the P3 highway projects in the USA showed higher initial costs than non-P3 projects. However, the efficiency scores showed no significant difference between the two groups. This inconsistency between initial costs and technical efficiency scores suggests the complexity involved in P3 projects, which are not captured in the efficiency analysis.

Limited availability of P3 project data due to their immaturity (in cases of P3 projects that include operation and management) and their complex engineering specifications may have caused biased results. Importantly, the study analyzed project costs as of financial close; post-financial close variations, such as change orders during construction, cost/schedule overruns, and renegotiation of contract terms, are beyond the scope of the analysis in this study.

The present study contributes to the literature as one of the earliest empirical analyses of the performance of highway P3s in the USA. Also, this is one of the first studies to employ frontier analysis methods that focus on the efficiency of highway project delivery.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive understanding of the Public Private Partnerships (PPP) in Italy in order to highlight challenges and opportunities for a more effective adoption of PPP in Italy. In particular we analyze three key aspects that affect the PPP adoption and implementation, namely the institutional, organizational, and financial ones, and their changes over time.

To reach the aim, we have conducted an empirical research, gathering qualitative and quantitative relevant information, to characterize three key dimensions affecting the PPP adoption and its effective implementation, namely the institutional, organizational, and financial dimension.

The analysis of PPP in Italy reveals that, although it is a relatively recent practice, its use is widely spread in delivering public infrastructures. Nevertheless, there are still some shortcomings, related to administrative, financial, and legal issues, that make the application and use of PPP, although considerable in size, less effective and efficient in Italy than in some other countries. In order to overcome these limitations, different interventions are required in order to strength the practices and advance the body of knowledge.

The study formulates useful recommendations for an effective implementation of PPP based on the analysis of the main constraints for the PPP's development in Italy.

The study overcomes the gap of the existing literature on the Italian PPP that have analyzed the phenomenon under two different approaches. Some researchers have investigated the key aspects characterizing PPPs, by adopting a mono-dimensional perspective. Other studies have analyzed the extent of adoption and diffusion of PPP in Italy, by presenting data on PPP projects by sector and/or by types. This paper contributes to fill this gap by providing both a comprehensive analysis of PPP, based on three key dimensions characterizing the PPP adoption and implementation, as well as by presenting an updated picture of the PPP in Italy.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the financial and economic aspects of the renewable energy sector aiming to develop and present a project feasibility analysis model that allows the public sector to master plan socially beneficial infrastructure projects and to find financially viable options for private investments. This paper develops a general frame that can be harmonized to a certain project by applying relevant country specific schemes.

The cost-benefit analysis (CBA) approach is used to develop relevant formulas aiming to compare the economic internal rate of return (EIRR) and financial internal rate of return (FIRR) of the possible investment options. The IRR method is used for the development of a platform that will allow comparing different project alternatives and choosing an optimal model for both public and private partners. A case study approach from Uzbekistan is used to highlight the implementation possibilities of the model based on a certain country example.

This paper develops a decision-making frame allowing the public sector to find organizational options that provide economically viable projects and at the same time attract private investors in the latter. The designed map of possible benefits, costs and revenue mechanisms allows practitioners to analyze the economic and financial viability of the existing combinations by using the developed model.

The developed model will allow the public sector to use the needed data on different possible design models in the developed formulas in order to identify the EIRR and FIRR of each option. Nevertheless, the application of the model will be possible after considering country specific options needed for CBA. The private sector can use the model to identify the financially acceptable options for the investments.

The paper provides the decision makers with a sound tool to identify the possible combinations of the options to conduct a relevant project with private investments in the renewable energy sector and to choose the model that generates the highest social welfare.