The authors attribute many of the problems in highway privatization to the combined effect of features of the highway business and the fixed term contracts used. First, traffic forecasts are notoriously imprecise, and the franchise holder has almost no control over demand. Second, most...

Infrastructure concessions are frequently renegotiated after investments are sunk, resulting in better contractual terms for the franchise holders. This paper offers a political economy explanation for renegotiations that occur with no apparent holdup. We argue that they are used by political...

It has become increasingly common to allocate highway franchises to the bidder that offers to charge the lowest toll. Often, building a highway increases the value of land held by a small group of developers, an effect that is more pronounced with lower tolls. We study the welfare implications...