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Transparency of Risk and Reward in U.K. Public–Private Partnerships
Author(s) -
HOOD JOHN,
FRASER IAN,
McGARVEY NEIL
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
public budgeting and finance
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.694
H-Index - 30
eISSN - 1540-5850
pISSN - 0275-1100
DOI - 10.1111/j.1540-5850.2006.00861.x
Subject(s) - transparency (behavior) , openness to experience , private sector , public sector , accountability , corollary , business , accounting , corporate governance , democracy , criticism , public economics , economics , public administration , finance , political science , economic growth , law , economy , psychology , social psychology , mathematics , politics , pure mathematics
Public–Private Partnerships (PPPs) are an increasingly common mechanism for the renewal of public sector infrastructure, although in the United Kingdom, these have been criticized as representing poor value for money. An inherent assumption of much of this criticism is that a corollary of detriment for the public sector is benefit for the private sector. This paper highlights the difficulty of objectively verifying the many criticisms and assumptions regarding risk and reward associated with PPPs. Public and private sector disclosure policies and systems are analyzed and we conclude that neither sector practices openness and transparency. This results in a democratic accountability deficit in the public sector and a lack of meaningful data being made available to stakeholders in private companies.