Case Study (Public-Private Partnerships)

This course helps you deepen your understanding of Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) as a framework for public services provision essential to the smooth functioning of society and people’s well-being. Students must work in teams under the instructors’ guidance as a practical training course with an active learning approach. Your deliverables are reviewed by and submitted to external “clients” as if the students provided real-world consulting services. The course also serves as hands-on training for professional writing. Overall, the course aims to prepare you for future positions engaged in innovative public services provision in both the public and private sectors.
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The key motivation for traditional PPPs is to seek efficiency gains and innovations as well as to fill public-sector funding gaps through private-sector participation. Efficiency gains and innovations are expected to enhance public-sector productivity and improve the quality of public services. Such potential benefits have attracted increasing interest in PPPs over the past decades.
The core task of structuring a PPP project is to reconcile the interests of various stakeholders in the private and public sectors. These stakeholders include investors, lenders, contractors, social entrepreneurs, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), government, other public entities, and individual beneficiaries.
Challenges remain. PPPs are not immune to moral hazard due to the nature of public services provision, and in reality very complex and can be costly. Risk allocations are challenging because of information asymmetries and inherent uncertainties over the long term. Difficulties also arise from the different attitudes of such stakeholders as investors, lenders, government entities, and individual beneficiaries. PPPs are equipped with commercial contractual structure and operational modalities but, at the same time, are highly political due to their social implications entailed in public services provision.