The Financial and Social Cost of Public–Private Partnerships
Most of the existing literature on public-private partnerships (PPPs) focuses exclusively on the nature and perceived benefits of PPPs, notably their professed efficiency gains in the provision of public goods and services. However, little attention has been devoted to analyzing one of the main drivers of PPPs, that is, their use by governments to hide public debt—through non-transparent accounting practices—and their consequences. In this chapter, we assess the financial and social costs of PPPs and illustrate their impact on public debt and human rights, drawing on several examples in order to offer some lessons from experience to date. The chapter is organized into four sections. The first examines the definition of PPPs and their main characteristics. The second presents the most recent figures available on PPPs. The third analyzes the rationale behind governments’ choice of PPPs over other forms of infrastructure and service provision, by focusing on off-balance sheet accounting. The fourth section presents a critical assessment of PPPs and their impact on sustainable development.