Privatization

A New Transportation Paradigm

Bibliographic Data

ID9770284
AuthorsRobert W Poole (0000-0001-9613-6401, corresponding author)
Year1997
Volume553
Issue1
Pages94-105
Publication date1997-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-7162 • E-ISSN: 1552-3349
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/0002716297553001009
OpenAlexW2154245977
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited1

A new approach to the funding, management, and operation of transportation infrastructure is emerging. “Privatization” refers to several different ways in which private sector firms, usually under some form of government supervision, assume significant responsibility for these major systems. Although the traditional U.S. model of user taxes, trust funds, centralized resource allocation, and government ownership and operation has produced reasonably good transportation infrastructure, this approach carries with it incentives for suboptimal performance—such as allocating resources on political rather than economic-value grounds, encouraging congesation at peak hours, and skimping on maintenance. The privatization techniques offer the potential of institutionalizing a better set of incentives for cost-effective performance. This article explores the use of (1) contract management and operation, (2) long-term franchises and concessions, and (3) divestiture as privatization modes that can be applied to highways and airports

Business · Divestment · Economic growth · Economics · Government (linguistics · Incentive · Industrial organization · Market economy · Microeconomics · Politics · Private sector · Public economics · Resource allocation · Value (mathematics · Computer Science · Finance · Public-Private Partnership Projects · Transport and Economic Policies · Transportation Planning and Optimization

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