Open AccessIncomplete Contracts and Public Ownership: Remarks, and an Application to Public‐Private Partnerships*
Author(s) -
Hart Oliver
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
the economic journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 4.683
H-Index - 160
eISSN - 1468-0297
pISSN - 0013-0133
DOI - 10.1111/1468-0297.00119
Subject(s) - incomplete contracts , law and economics , public ownership , political science , economics , sociology , public administration , public economics , incentive , market economy
The question of what should determine the boundaries between public and private firms in an advanced capitalist economy is a highly topical one. In this paper I discuss some recent theoretical thinking on this issue. I divide the paper into two parts. First, I make some general remarks about the relationship between the theoretical literature on privatisation and incomplete contracting theories of the firm. Second, I use some of the ideas from this literature to develop a very preliminary model of public‐private partnerships.