1. Who We Are
  2. News
Events
Image
The Economics of Public-Private Partnerships
March 22, 2016Washington, DC

Eduardo Engel
Eduardo Engel is Professor of Economics at the University of Chile. He has an extensive publication record in the areas of macroeconomics, public finance and regulation. He is a Fellow of the Econometric Society and was awarded the society’s Frisch Medal in 2002. Engel began working on public-private partnerships (PPPs) in the mid 1990s and has co-authored more than a dozen academic articles on this topic. He also has consulted on issues related to PPPs for various governments and multilateral organizations (World Bank, IADB, CAF and EIB among others) and has taught short courses on PPPs at various universities and multilateral organizations (IMF, IADB and TSE among others). He served as Chair of the Technical Advisory Panel at the World Bank’s Public Private Investment Advisory Facility (PPIAF) and as member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council of Infrastructure. Engel holds a Ph.D. in Economics from MIT, a Ph.D. in Statistics from Stanford University and an engineering degree from the University of Chile.

Public-private partnerships (PPPs) have emerged as an option to provide infrastructure services, somewhere in between public provision and privatization. The experience with PPPs during the last 25 years has been mixed. This presentation takes stock with the worldwide experience with PPPs and seeks to answer three main questions: When are PPPs the best way to provide and finance infrastructure facilities? If a PPP is selected, how should the contract be designed? And what is the appropriate structure of PPP governance?

The presentation is based on the book "The Economics of Public-Private Partnerships: A User's Guide", co-authored with R.Fischer and A.Galetovic and published recently by Cambridge University Press.

The Development Economics Vice Presidency (DEC) launched its lecture series in April 2005 to bring distinguished academics to the Bank to present and discuss new knowledge on development. The purpose of the Lecture Series is to introduce ideas on cutting edge research, challenge and contribute to the Bank's intellectual climate, and reexamine current development theories and practices. The Lectures revisit issues of long-standing concern and explore emerging issues that promise to be central to future development discourse. The Lecture Series reflects DEC’s commitment to intellectual leadership and openness in embracing future challenges to reduce poverty.

The DEC Lecture Series is chaired by Kaushik Basu, Senior Vice President and Chief Economist, and includes a presentation and floor discussion.
 

Lecture Details
  • Date: Tuesday, March 22, 2016
  • Time: 12:30 – 1:30 PM
  • Venue: Preston Auditorium
RELATED
Welcome