Local Mixed Companies: The Theory and Practice in an International Perspective

Abstract

Abstract:Several factors have been contributing to the growing use of public private-partnership (PPP) arrangements by local governments, such as, the need for new investments on infrastructure (e.g. decentralization of responsibilities, regulatory requirements demanding better quality and environmental protection, renovation of the networks), imposition of strict debt limits to the localities, and local government reform policies/programs. Whereas contractual PPP arrangements, such as concession contracts, can be seen as an extension of traditional public procurement (with additional complexities in contract design and management) and are currently better handled by contracting authorities, institutionalized PPPs (mixed companies) are still quite puzzling for both practitioners and academics. In fact, the following questions deserve further investigation: When are mixed companies expected to depict a higher performance than other options? What are the risks involved and how should they be allocated and mitigated? How should mixed companies be monitored and evaluated? The articles in this Special Issue provide insightful answers to these and many other relevant questions to policy makers.

Public and Private Production in a Mixed Delivery System: Regulation, Competition and Costs

“…In contrast, mixed delivery is less frequent in Europe (Warner & Bel, ). Indeed, European policymakers and scholarly literature prefer the term “mixed firm,” an organizational form that differs from mixed delivery inasmuch as the government and its private partners share ownership of the firm (Cruz et al., ), which, moreover, is typically granted the monopoly provision of services in the jurisdiction. The model is also referred to as “partial privatization” (Bel & Fageda, )…”

Re-municipalization of public services: trend or hype?

“…This "corporatization" wave has raised much debate in the literature as to its influence on the public character or behaviour of the entity (Andrews et al 2019). So, for example, the World Bank has specified that corporatization is a means to prepare an entity for privatization , whilst other scholars stress there are different ways to corporatize, and that this can follow either a "progressive" or "neoliberal" model (McDonald 2016;Cruz et al 2014). Hence, the creation of a municipal corporation could be part of reverse privatization, as a partial step back toward more public control, or it could be a step towards privatization: it depends on the case under study.…”

Yes, No, Maybe: The Ambiguous Relationships Between State‐owned Enterprises and the State

“…As, for instance, the public sector can borrow money at a lower cost compared to private enterprises (see Cruz et al. ), SOEs are interested in having tight links to the State.…”