Analyzing the influence of national political and economical factors on the success of public-private partnerships in transport

Abstract

Abstract
Since the emergence of public-private partnerships (PPPs) in the 1980s, there has been a structural change in the way countries now finance and provide public infrastructure. Although national governments apparently encourage PPPs, and many have succeeded, some others have failed. Using data from transport sector projects for 72 low- and middle-income countries from the Private Participation in Infrastructure Project Database of the World Bank, we investigate the role of three main factors in the success of these transport PPPs: national experience, the presence of private investors, and the influence of multilateral lenders. The results of the study highlight the importance of the foundation provided by national experience. Not only does national macroeconomic experience appear to have a relevant role, but so also does its past experience (either positive or negative) of transport PPP projects. An interesting finding of the analysis is that the perception of a country’s level of corruption and democratic accountability has significant bearing on the final outcome of a PPP project. Also, the region and subsector of the PPP project seem to play an important role in its success.