This paper discusses alternative ways of defining and measuring the marginal economic cost of public funds and reviews empirical cost estimates - including estimates for EU countries. Moreover, it illustrates how the economic cost of public funds should be accounted for in cost-benefit analyses...

Improving energy efficiency is seen as a core strategy for a sustainable energy system, because it may contribute to cost savings for companies and private households, cost-effectively reduces greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants, increases security of supply for required energy...

This paper focuses on the systems-of-innovation (SI) approach and its policy implications. It introduces the topic by briefly reviewing the emergence, development, and diffusion of this approach and, then, spells out the constituents, activities, and boundaries of the SI approach. On this basis,...

Highlighting the revival of industrial-policy thinking in an era of globalisation and disenchantment with free trade, this paper reviews alternative and, in part, competing theoretical foundations of industrial policy: neoclassical foundations, structuralist approaches, and pragmatic approaches...

Considering industrial policy from the perspective of other economic policies, this paper seeks to identify the sources and consequences of conflicts between industrial, competition, trade, and fiscal policies. The goals of industrial policy, even when economically justified in isolation, are in...

Public-private partnerships (PPPs) are long-term partnerships between the public and private sectors that usually involve the private sector undertaking investment projects that traditionally have been executed (or at least financed) and owned by the public sector. This paper considers...

This paper critically assesses the implications of contract design and risk transfer on the provision of public services under public-private partnerships (PPPs). Two results stand out. First, the alleged strength of PPPs in delivering infrastructure projects on budget more often than...

This paper provides an overview of both theoretical and empirical literature on the link between public investment (capital) and economic growth (national income). We first survey the channels through which public capital can conceivably affect growth. We then turn to reviewing the existing...

Public-private partnerships have emerged as an alternative to traditional public procurement in financing and providing infrastructure services. This paper considers public-private partnerships as another form of public sector intervention in the economy. It analyses the microeconomic pros and...

The financial crises of the 1990s have created the perception that one of the fundamental reasons for the occurrence of such crises is to be found in the fact that exchange rates were pegged for too long. These pegged exchange rates inevitably invited speculative attacks in the foreign exchange...