Encouraging skill development: Evidence from public-private partnerships in education in Russia’s regions

How and when are governments able to encourage firms and schools to work together to develop workers’ skills? Upgrading the quality of human capital in the workforce is widely seen as a key challenge faced by countries looking to escape the “middle income trap.” Growing attention has been paid to public-private partnerships (PPP) between individual firms and schools as a powerful tool for meeting this challenge, but key facilitators of PPP thought crucial in existing studies – strong, independent employers’ associations and labor unions – are often missing in such settings. To explore the emergence of PPP in skill development in the developing world, we draw on recent reform experiences in Russia’s regions that have led to a surge in complex, costly forms of PPP despite weakly developed business associations and unions. We argue that variation in the administrative capacity of regional governments and their political accountability explains this surge. Strong administrative capacity reassures all parties that regional authorities can monitor their counterparties’ compliance with agreements, while political accountability creates incentives for authorities to do so. We test our argument using original data on the existence and content of firm-school partnerships across all Russia’s regions for 2013.     

UNDERSTANDING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN INFRASTRUCTURE PUBLIC‒PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS AND INNOVATION

While the contemporary academic discourse regards innovation as an inherent feature of infrastructure public?private partnerships (PPPs), the conceptual link between infrastructure PPPs and innovation is narrowly understood. While most existing studies conceptualize the innovation processes and effects within the context of PPP projects, we argue that the relevance of innovation in infrastructure PPPs goes beyond specific projects. In this conceptual article, we examine why and how infrastructure PPP innovations can shape the evolution of the involved private and public sector organizations – and therefore the respective sectors – more broadly. We show that innovation in the context of PPPs has much broader implications and potential outcomes than as emphasized in the literature so far.     

THE USE OF PPP ARRANGEMENTS IN STREET LIGHTING: A WIN‐WIN OPTION?

Street lighting is a classic example of a public good, and governments are extensively involved in its provision. Adequate lighting facilitates both car traffic and personal safety while improving an urban area's character. However, many systems are mismanaged and obsolete, incurring high energy costs and emissions with relatively low lighting quality. Public authorities facing budget constraints often find retrofitting old street‐lighting systems challenging. They have two options: either direct in‐house, public‐authority renovation or contracting with a private company through a public–private partnership (PPP). Although private‐sector‐participation approaches vary, most public authorities can now enter into a street‐light modernization PPP agreement. That can be a win‐win option for both the public and private sectors. The upfront investment is small and operational expenses outweigh capital expenses, generating lower payback periods and energy‐cost reduction with light‐emitting diode (LED) technology. Little public expenditure is necessary when private partners are compensated via shared energy savings. We analyze the Detroit street‐light PPP – the United States’ first – and find that PPPs are practical for retrofitting US street lights and in other countries where they are antiquated.     

Dual equilibrium and growth cycle in Argentina

Argentina’s GDP growth cycle, tracing the high exchange rate volatility in 1970–2008, is discussed. Growth depends on foreign exchange availability. The country’s comparative advantage is in agriculture, but manufactured exports are grow faster. Two remarkably different PPP exchange rates coexist – one appropriate for agriculture and one for manufacturing – destabilising the market exchange rate. Thus, two unstable growth equilibria coexist generating GDP fluctuations. Currency devaluation sets the cycle’s ceiling and the end of devaluation sets the cycle’s floor. Chronic government deficits widen the cycle, harming institutions and decelerating growth. A land tax to finance rural investment would facilitate a high and stable exchange rate (AR$/US$) and convergence to the high growth equilibrium.     

Signaling Public Private Partnership Activities: Reporting Behavior Within Annual Reports

This empirical study examines whether, and if so, to what extent, firms report on Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects to signal PPP engagement even beyond legal obligations. The annual reports of the sample’s firms listed on the VSE in 2005 have been investigated in a qualitative and quantitative way to reveal information policy. Annual reports confirming PPP activities are examined qualitatively by an in-depth content analysis to answer the question in which way information about the revealed PPP projects is published. Further, predetermined keywords that at least indicate a PPP participation are statistically evaluated. The results outline that annual reports only give little and predominantly unspecific information on PPP which emphasizes the absence of corresponding reporting obligations and of a standardized PPP definition.     

Purchasing power parity and real factors

It is acknowledged that purchasing power parity (PPP) fails in empirical tests. The position adopted is that real factors are an omitted variable from the PPP relationship and are the cause of divergences from PPP. The real exchange rate as being determined by supply and demand shift factors (as in Stockman, 1987 and Neary, 1988) is modelled. We then empirically estimate a real exchange rate equation and use the fitted value as a generated regressor in tests of PPP. It is demonstrated that when changes in the real exchange rate are incorporated into the PPP relationship, PPP improves.     

A possible explanation of the ‘Exchange Rate Disconnect Puzzle’: a common solution to three macroeconomic puzzles?

Meese and Rogoff (1983) and subsequent studies find that economic fundamentals are apparently not able to explain exchange rate movements, but we argue that this so-called ‘Exchange Rate Disconnect Puzzle’ arose because researchers such as Meese and Rogoff (1983) did not use the right fundamentals and because they did not allow for the forward-looking nature of exchange rate determination. Further, because they apparently were not aware that financial markets by themselves could not equalize interest rates across countries, they did not properly appreciate that the exchange rate is strongly influenced by agents’ expectations of aggregated differences in local returns. Thus, we believe that the same underlying explanation provided by Ford (2015) and Ford and Horioka (2016a, 2016b) for the Feldstein-Horioka (1980) Puzzle and the PPP Puzzle – namely that financial markets alone cannot achieve net transfers of financial capital and cannot equalize real interest rates across countries – also helps explain why previous attempts to connect changes in the exchange rate to economic fundamentals have not been successful and so can also be said to contribute to solving the Exchange Rate Disconnect Puzzle.     

PPP的认识误区与公共服务改革

通过查阅大量国外文献,试图厘清公私合作(PPP)的家族谱系,纠正对PPP、BOT、PFI等融资模式的误解。通过论述政府采购的特征,阐明PPP不是政府投资而是政府公共服务采购。根据我国PPP的发展阶段以及政府在各类PPP模式中发挥的作用,提出公共服务改革的10项建议。     

Further evidence on purchasing power parity and country characteristics

Using data from 76 countries, this paper investigates the relationship between country characteristics and the validity of purchasing power parity (PPP). Several interesting results are obtained based on dollar-based exchange rates. First, PPP holds for Africa and Latin America. Further, PPP tends to be supported for countries with high or moderate openness, low growth rates, high inflation rates and high nominal exchange rate volatility, respectively. Second, a single country characteristic seems inadequate to account for the validity of PPP. Third, PPP is supported if countries satisfy at least two characteristics of supporting PPP simultaneously. Finally, the main results of the paper are robust when the numeraire currency changes from the US dollar to Japanese yen.     

THE DIVERSITY GAP IN THE PUBLIC–PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP INDUSTRY: AN EXAMINATION OF WOMEN AND VISIBLE MINORITIES IN SENIOR LEADERSHIP POSITIONS

Despite intense focus on leadership diversity in industries such as high technology, business, the media and academia, to date the infrastructure sector has not received the same level of scrutiny. This paper develops a theoretical framework to explain why leadership diversity matters in the management of complex infrastructure projects delivered through public – private partnerships, and then empirically identifies the diversity gap in senior leadership in the PPP industry worldwide. The study is based on an examination of over 2,800 public and private sector executives, board members and politicians responsible for PPPs in over 90 countries. The results show that women and racial minorities are significantly underrepresented in senior leadership roles, a pattern that is deeply entrenched and consistent globally. The paper concludes by discussing the implications of the findings for the infrastructure industry, and explores how a lack of leadership diversity can influence project management outcomes.     

PPP如何影响地方财政风险*——来自债券市场反应的证据

政府与社会资本合作（PPP）的倡导者认为PPP能够为地方政府分担财政压力，分散投资风险，提高资源配置效率；其反对者则认为PPP背后隐藏着政府的隐性担保和补贴、腐败和寻租，预算内的财政压力减小只是一种财政幻觉，反倒无形中累积了系统性风险。本文利用中国2015—2020年间的债券发行数据以及PPP在各地的落地信息，以地方政府债券为实验组，以国债和金融债为控制组，构建双重差分模型，检验PPP集中落地是否增加了地方财政风险，进而抬升了地方政府债券的发行成本。实证结果表明，2016—2017年左右的PPP集中落地使得地方政府债券发行受到来自市场的利率惩罚，5年期地方债发行利率的风险溢价为67个基点~297个基点，10年期地方债发行利率的风险溢价为21个基点~41个基点，且这种效应在PPP项目较多和较少的地区之间存在异质性。更换控制组、推后PPP项目对地方财政的实际冲击时间、假设虚假的实验组等一系列稳健性检验证明这一发现具有可信性。此外，本文还讨论了这一实证结果背后的可能原因，并提出促进PPP良性发展的措施。     

PPP项目控制权转移机制研究*——基于探索性多案例的分析

提高民营企业参与PPP项目的控制权是激发民营企业创新活力、降低运营成本的重要举措。民营企业参与PPP项目的过程，实质是政府让渡控制权与企业获取控制权的动态博弈过程。本文从合作治理的视角，以同一家民营企业参与的两个城市公用事业PPP项目为研究对象，提炼影响城市公用事业PPP项目控制权转移的关键要素，采用探索性多案例研究方法，挖掘民营企业参与PPP项目的控制权转移机制，发现政府制度能力、企业动态能力、市场竞争强度是影响控制权转移的关键要素，政企关系对上述三类影响路径起到积极的调节作用。相应的，民营企业参与PPP项目的控制权转移存在三条基本路径，即能力转移、关系转移和市场转移。本研究不仅丰富了PPP项目控制权的研究成果，还可以为提高民营企业参与PPP项目的控制权提供指导与借鉴。     

PPP如何影响地方财政风险*——来自债券市场反应的证据

政府与社会资本合作（PPP）的倡导者认为PPP能够为地方政府分担财政压力，分散投资风险，提高资源配置效率；其反对者则认为PPP背后隐藏着政府的隐性担保和补贴、腐败和寻租，预算内的财政压力减小只是一种财政幻觉，反倒无形中累积了系统性风险。本文利用中国2015—2020年间的债券发行数据以及PPP在各地的落地信息，以地方政府债券为实验组，以国债和金融债为控制组，构建双重差分模型，检验PPP集中落地是否增加了地方财政风险，进而抬升了地方政府债券的发行成本。实证结果表明，2016—2017年左右的PPP集中落地使得地方政府债券发行受到来自市场的利率惩罚，5年期地方债发行利率的风险溢价为67个基点~297个基点，10年期地方债发行利率的风险溢价为21个基点~41个基点，且这种效应在PPP项目较多和较少的地区之间存在异质性。更换控制组、推后PPP项目对地方财政的实际冲击时间、假设虚假的实验组等一系列稳健性检验证明这一发现具有可信性。此外，本文还讨论了这一实证结果背后的可能原因，并提出促进PPP良性发展的措施。     

Home bias and deviations from purchasing power parity

Empirical analysis has produced mixed results in testing for PPP. This note presents a simple model linking home bias towards home-produced tradable goods with deviations from absolute PPP. We show that this bias constitutes a significant determinant of PPP deviations.     

Purchasing power parity and dynamic error correction: Evidence from Asia Pacific economies

This study investigates the validity of purchasing power parity (PPP) hypothesis as a long run equilibrium condition for thirteen Asia Pacific economies using a generalized error correction model. The results of the generalized dynamic specification appear to support PPP for more countries than do standard tests for unit roots. Out of the thirteen bilateral exchange rates, evidence of PPP is found for only one (the Mexican peso/U.S. dollar rate) under traditional tests for unit roots, while seven of them support PPP under the generalized dynamic error correction model. It appears that one of the factors that lead standard tests for unit roots to fail to detect evidence of PPP may be the undue restrictions imposed on the model specification.     

Purchasing Power Parity: A Time Series Analysis of the U.S. and Mexico, 1995–2007

This paper presents indirect evidence that absolute purchasing power parity (PPP) may hold in the long-run between Mexico and the U.S., but due to data limitations, the relationship could not be tested directly. Thus it is not clear if absolute PPP holds in the long run between the U.S. and Mexico. Given that relative PPP is a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for absolute PPP to hold, this study tests the relationship between the change in the log of the exchange rate, and the changes in the log of the U.S. producer price index (PPI) and the Mexican PPI. Here, the absence of relative PPP would indicate that absolute PPP could not hold. Given that all the relevant variables in first difference log are stationary, PPP in its relative form holds and OLS can be applied directly in a VAR model setting, viz., treating all variables initially as potentially endogenous. The estimates indicate one-way Granger causality from the percentage change in the exchange rate to the percentage change in the Mexican price level, which is not an implausible result for an emerging nation such as Mexico which imports a significant fraction of (dollar denominated) intermediate products and capital inputs.     

ARE ASIA‐PACIFIC REAL EXCHANGE RATES STATIONARY? A REGIME‐SWITCHING PERSPECTIVE

This paper tests for long‐run purchasing power (PPP) among nine Asia‐Pacific countries. Non‐stationarity of the real exchange rate is tested within a Markov regime‐switching framework. Two new concepts of PPP are defined that allow for real exchange behaviour to switch between stationary and non‐stationary regimes (partial PPP) or between stationary regimes of differing degrees of persistence (varied PPP). The results indicate that each country is characterized by at least one stationary regime. Indeed, five countries are characterized by two such regimes. Further analysis indicates that the Asian crisis of 1997 gave mixed impetus to the achievement of long‐run PPP.     

INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT – THE EMERGENT PPP EQUITY MARKET

Increasingly governments are looking to private sector actors to invest in infrastructure projects. An emergent mechanism for such investment is the market in PPP equity. This is an aspect of PPPs that has to date had little empirical attention. This paper reports on the size and scope of the market in PPP equity sales within the UK. In the process, the nature of PPP projects and the existing rationales for the policy are critiqued. The paper concludes by laying out a number of potential research agendas focused on PPP equity sales including a call for reassessing theoretical perspectives.     

Removal of farm subsidies in a regional economy: a computable general equilibrium analysis

There are a number of studies that examine the purchasing power parity (PPP) hypothesis. The empirical findings from the extant literature for the PPP hypothesis are mixed. This article applies univariate and panel Lagrange Multiplier (LM) unit root tests with one and two structural breaks to real exchange rates for 15 Asian countries. The univariate LM unit root tests find evidence of PPP for two-thirds of the sample. The results from the panel LM unit root test support long-run PPP for the Asian countries in the sample. The results from the LM panel unit root tests differ from those of existing panel unit root tests of PPP for Asian countries that have not allowed for the existence of structural breaks.     

Does purchasing power parity hold sometimes? Regime switching in real exchange rates

Standard unit root tests are not very powerful in drawing conclusions regarding the validity of Purchasing Power Parity (PPP). Rather than asking whether PPP holds throughout the whole sample period, we examine, in this study, if PPP holds sometimes by employing Hamilton-type (1989) Markov regime switching models. When at least one of multiple regimes is stationary, PPP holds locally within the regime. There are indeed various reasons that we should expect that the persistence of real exchange rates changes over time. Employing five real exchange rates spanning more than 100 years, we find herein strong evidence that the strength of PPP varies during the sample periods and that there exist stationary regimes in which PPP holds. Throughout the article, we also make comparisons to previous Markov regime switching estimation results by Kanas (2006) on the same data series. The new Markov switching model selection criterion of Smith et al. (2006), which is devised especially for discriminating Markov regime switching models, unambiguously indicates a preference for the Hamilton-type Markov regime switching model employed in this study. We also find that the evidence for PPP is not much different across different nominal exchange rate arrangements.