Lessons from São Paulo's Metropolitan Busway Concessions Program

Lessons from São Paulo's Metropolitan Busway Concessions Program PDF Author: Jorge Mariano Rebelo
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN:
Category : Bus lines
Languages : en
Pages : 24

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Lessons from São Paulo's Metropolitan Busway Concessions Program

Lessons from São Paulo's Metropolitan Busway Concessions Program PDF Author: Jorge Mariano Rebelo
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN:
Category : Bus lines
Languages : en
Pages : 24

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Book Description


Government Support to Private Infrastructure Projects in Emerging Markets

Government Support to Private Infrastructure Projects in Emerging Markets PDF Author: Mansoor Dailami
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN:
Category : Capital investments
Languages : en
Pages : 35

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Book Description
January 1998 For citizens to reap the full benefits of private investment in infrastructure, infrastructure prices must be high enough to cover costs, and private investors must assume commercial risk. Good macroeconomic policy matters because it affects the credibility of a price regime and especially the trust in currency convertibility essential for foreign investors. Driven by fiscal austerity and disenchantment with the performance of state-provided infrastructure services, many governments have turned to the private sector to build, operate, finance, or own infrastructure in power, gas, water, transport, and telecommunications sectors. Private capital flows to developing countries are increasing rapidly; 15 percent of infrastructure investment is now funded by private capital in emerging markets. But relative to needs, such private investment is progressing slowly. Governments are reluctant to raise consumer prices to cost-covering levels, while investors, mindful of experience, fear that governments may renege on promises to maintain adequate prices over the long haul. So investors ask for government support in the form of grants, preferential tax treatment, debt or equity contributions, or guarantees. These subsidies differ in how they allocate risk between private investors and government. Efficiency gains are greatest when private parties assume the risks that they can manage better than the public sector. When governments establish good policies-especially cost-covering prices and credible commitments to stick to them-investors are willing to invest without special government support. Privatizing assets without government guarantees or other financial support is possible, even where governments are politically unable to raise prices, because investors can achieve the returns they demand by discounting the value of the assets they are purchasing. But this is not possible for new investments (greenfield projects). If prices have been set too low and the government is not willing to raise them, it must give the investor financial support, such as guarantees and other forms of subsidy, to facilitate worthwhile projects that would not otherwise proceed. But guarantees shift costs from consumers to taxpayers, who subsidize users of infrastructure services. Much of that subsidy is hidden, since the government does not record the guarantee in its fiscal accounts. And taxpayers provide unremunerated credit insurance, as the government borrows based on its ability to tax citizens if the project fails, not on the strength of the project itself. This paper-a joint product of the Regulatory Reform and Private Enterprise Division, Economic Development Institute, and the Private Participation in Infrastructure Group-was presented at the conference Managing Government Exposure to Private Infrastructure Projects: Averting a New-Style Debt Crisis, held in Cartagena, Colombia, May 29030, 1997. Mansoor Dailami may be contacted at [email protected].

Interregional Resource Transfer and Economic Growth in Indonesia

Interregional Resource Transfer and Economic Growth in Indonesia PDF Author: Toshihiko Kawagoe
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN:
Category : Crecimiento economico - Indonesia
Languages : en
Pages : 48

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Book Description
February 1998 Rapid economic growth in Indonesia starting in the 1970s was fueled by market-based resource transfers, which helped modernize regional economies, creating the driving force for industrialization; and more welfare-oriented, government-based resource transfers, or development spending, which favored the poorer outer islands. In 1970, Indonesia was a poor agricultural state, with a per capita GNP of only US$80-the lowest among Asian economies and substantially lower than such African countries as Kenya and Ghana. Agriculture-with about 50 percent of GDP and 66 percent of the labor force- the dominant sector. In the 1970s, however, Indonesia showed rapid economic growth (5 percent a year). Softened world oil markets brought a slowdown in growth in the early 1980s, but growth recovered and per capita GNP in 1994 was US$880, comparable with the Philippines and substantially higher than many South Asian and African countries. Agriculture had only a 22 percent share of GDP; industry, 41 percent; and services, 42 percent. But Indonesia is enormously diverse and some parts of it did much better economically than others. As the country's economy grew, market-based resource transfers helped modernize regional economies, creating the driving force for industrialization. By contrast, government-based resource transfers, in the form of development spending, were more welfare-oriented, favoring the poorer outer islands (and did not contribute to industrialization). In other words, economic growth was sustained by two driving forces, government- and market-based transfers, which complemented each other. The oil boom was a bonanza, producing new fiscal revenue, a luxury only oil-exporting countries could enjoy. It is not always a ticket to successful industrialization, as the tragic experiences of such oil-exporting economies as Mexico show. This paper-a product of the Development Research Group-is part of a Japanese research project on the political economy of rural development strategies.

Circumstance and Choice

Circumstance and Choice PDF Author:
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN:
Category : Asia
Languages : en
Pages : 60

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Moving Millions

Moving Millions PDF Author: F. Moavenzadeh
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 140206702X
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
Covering a topic of massive contemporary importance, this well written volume demonstrates how transportation strategy and environmental sustainability can be pursued in a comprehensive and harmonious, rather than unconnected and potentially conflicting, set of public policies. It applies lessons from several urban areas (e.g., Bogota, Singapore, Mexico City, Sao Paulo), including "success stories" and less successful "hard-won lessons", to a case study in Guangzhou.

The State and the Private Sector in Latin America

The State and the Private Sector in Latin America PDF Author: M. Font
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1137015764
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 318

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Book Description
This book follows ten political economic histories since the 1970s, showing how different forms of partnership have developed, flourished or declined over the time. The author's argument is supported by rich empirical material. It places partnership schemes in a broader social context and provides a deep insight into the phenomenon.

Risk Reduction and Public Spending

Risk Reduction and Public Spending PDF Author: Shantayanan Devarajan
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN:
Category : Finance, Public
Languages : en
Pages : 38

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Book Description
January 1998 Government spending on risk reduction could improve welfare in developing economies, either by alleviating a risk-market failure or by reducing uncertainty in otherwise distorted markets. As governments grow richer, the share of their GDP devoted to public spending rises. Public spending in the United States was 7.5 percent of GDP in 1913. It is 33 percent today. Although industrial countries spend twice as much as developing countries, government spending on goods and services is the same in both groups of countries. The difference is almost entirely due to transfer payments, which are about 22 percent of GDP in the industrial world. Most of these transfer payments-pensions, health insurance, unemployment insurance, guaranteed loans-are aimed at mitigating risk in the private sector. Devarajan and Hammer explore how the framework for evaluating government spending on goods and services can be extended to incorporate the government's various risk-reducing activities. They argue that there is a case for incorporating risk reduction into government spending, if doing so meets standard welfare-economics criteria for government intervention in the economy. Through examples-government-provided health insurance and crop insurance, price stabilization schemes, transfer programs for income support, public investments, publicly provided health care, and government credit guarantees-they show where government spending on risk reduction could improve welfare, either by alleviating a failure in risk markets or by reducing uncertainty in otherwise distorted markets. They illustrate calculations of the risk-reduction benefits of public spending and cite cases where their neglect could lead to serious underestimates. This paper-a product of Public Economics, Development Research Group-is part of a larger effort in the group to improve the allocation of public expenditures in developing countries. The authors may be contacted at [email protected] or [email protected].

How Integration Into the Central African Economic and Monetary Community Affects Cameroon's Economy

How Integration Into the Central African Economic and Monetary Community Affects Cameroon's Economy PDF Author: Ferdinand Bakoup
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN:
Category : Africa, Central
Languages : en
Pages : 52

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January 1998 Cameroon stands to gain economically from the new regional trade agreement among countries of the Central African Economic and Monetary Community. Better access to partner markets and reduction of the external tariff explain virtually all of Cameroon's welfare gain. Bakoup and Tarr quantify the impact on Cameroon of three aspects of its new regional trade agreement with the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (the CEMAC agreement): * Improved access to markets in CEMAC. * Preferential tariff reduction. * Reduction of its external tariff through implementation of the common external tariff of CEMAC. They estimate that Cameroon will gain from the agreement but show how Cameroon's regional market power greatly affects the magnitude of its gains. They assume that Cameroon has regional market power in both imports and exports despite being small in world markets. They find that better access to partner markets and reduction of the external tariff explain virtually all of Cameroon's welfare gain. In their preferred scenario (Cameroon having regional market power), reduction of the external tariff explains three-quarters of the welfare gain. If Cameroon further reduces tariffs to its regional partners, the effect on its economy is a loss of real income but the impact is negligible. Should Cameroom's partners fail to provide tariff-free access to their markets, Bakoup and Tarr estimate that, given Cameroon's regional market power, Cameroon would gain even more from free trade than it would from implementing the CEMAC arrangements. This paper-a product of the Development Research Group-is part of a larger effort in the group to investigate the implications of regional trade arrangements.

Industrial Pollution in Economic Development

Industrial Pollution in Economic Development PDF Author: Hemamala Hettige
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN:
Category : Economic development
Languages : en
Pages : 43

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The Asian Miracle and Modern Growth Theory

The Asian Miracle and Modern Growth Theory PDF Author: Richard R. Nelson
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN:
Category : Capital investments
Languages : en
Pages : 51

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February 1998 The policy differences between accumulation and assimilation growth theories may be much smaller than the conceptual or analytic differences. Can the Asian miracle be explained in terms of capital investments? Or were entrepreneurship, innovation, and learning significant factors in the rapid growth of the Asian tigers? In the past 35 years, China, Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan (China) have transformed themselves from technologically backwards and poor economies to relatively modern, affluent economies. Each has experienced more than a fourfold increase in per capita income. In each, a significant number of firms are producing technologically complex products competitive with firms in Europe, Japan, and the United States. Their growth performance has exceeded that of virtually all comparable economies. How they did it is a question of great importance. Virtually all theories about how they did it place investments in capital stock at the center of the explanation. Nelson and Pack divide most growth theories about the Asian miracle into two groups: * The accumulation theories stress the role of capital investments in moving these economies along their production functions. What lies behind rapid development, according to this type of theory, is very high investment rates. If a nation makes the investments, marshals the resources, development will follow. * The assimilation theories stress the entrepreneurship, innovation, and learning these economies went through before they could master the new technologies they were adopting from more advanced industrial nations. They see investment in human and physical capital as an essential but far from sufficient part of assimilation. In addition, people must learn about, take the risk of operating, and come to master technologies and other practices new to the country, if not the world. The emphasis for assimilation theorists is on innovation and learning, rather than on marshalling. If one marshals but does not innovate and learn, development does not follow. These are complex theories that raise as many questions as they answer. Nelson and Pack discuss differences in the way the two groups of theorists treat four matters: * Entrepreneurial decisionmaking. * The nature of technology. * The economic capabilities possible with a well-educated work force. * The role exports play in a country's rapid development. The differences between the theories matter because they affect our understanding of why the Asian miracle happened and because they imply different things about appropriate economic development policy. This paper-a product of the Development Research Group-is part of a larger effort in the group to study the impact of public policy on growth.