The Economics of Public Private Partnerships

Reference & Research Book News, August, 2005

HD2961

2004-063372

1-84376-249-8

The economics of public private partnerships.

Title main entry. Ed. by Darrin Grimsey and Mervyn K. Lewis. (The international library of critical writings in economics; 183)

Edward Elgar Pub. Co., [c]2005

584 p.

$255.00

Pioneered in France with the granting of concession contracts for the financing and construction of the Canal de Briare and the Canal du Midi in the 1600s, the growth of public-private partnerships for financing public services and infrastructure has grown by leaps and bounds in recent years. Concentrating on the recent experiences of France, the UK, and the US, Grimsey (a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers, Melbourne and a fellow at the Australian Centre for Public Infrastructure, Melbourne U. Private, Australia) and Lewis (banking and finance, U. of South Australia) present 36 previously published articles that consider general economic issues of PPPs; their organizational and risk management aspects, especially in the context of construction-based activities (drawing on the disciplines of economics and engineering); and the intellectual origins of the concept in terms of the changing market for public services. Issues of accounting and tax treatment are omitted. The papers originally appeared between 1988 and 2003 in such publications as Yale Law and Policy Review, Law and Policy in International Business, Transportation Quarterly, and International Journal of Project Management.