Willingness to take contractual risk in port public-private partnerships under economic volatility: The role of institutional environment in emerging economies

摘要

Port infrastructure investment environment is becoming increasingly volatile. Opportunities and challenges coexist and make port investment in view of economic volatility an interesting and important topic to study. A popular form of port investment is public-private partnership (PPP). It refers to a contractual arrangement between public agencies and private companies for works and services traditionally provided by the government. This paper aims to empirically investigate impacts of major economic recessions on private investors' willingness to take port infrastructure PPP contractual risk in emerging economies given a fixed set of institutional environments. Multi-group structural equation modelling is employed and data mainly from the World Bank Private Participation in Infrastructure (PPI) database is tested in the model. Findings show that there is less impact of institutional factors after the 2008 financial crisis. Governmental intervention with quality institutional environment is an effective strategy in attracting private investors in ports.