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This study looks at China’s supportive market and regulatory frameworks for a sustainable energy transition. It examines how public and commercial sectors help shift to cleaner, more sustainable energy. We use both methods to evaluate the effectiveness of policies, legislation, and incentives in boosting green energy adoption. This inquiry also examines how governments and businesses collaborate to meet China’s ambitious energy transformation objectives. Climate change and China’s air pollution need a shift away from coal-based energy generation. The historical study shows two policy mix temporal variations: rules and instruments configurations and regulatory intensity and concentration. The strategy combination has moved from authority-based instrumentation to the current response, resulting in a lot of instrumentation and several device kinds. The Chinese government is experimenting with new rules to minimize carbon dioxide emissions while enforcing air pollution reduction and renewable energy assistance initiatives. This study explores the complicated relationship between policy frameworks and market dynamics to understand better how government-crafted strategic plans may align with market processes and capitalize on private-sector innovation and investment. Through case studies and theoretical models, it outlines each industry’s mutually beneficial role in supporting sustainable energy. New legislative tools, calibrated ones, and policies that replace and sequence all evolutionary traits are needed. The study shows that China has used a complex set of regulatory mechanisms to reduce coal-based power sector pollution and encourage renewable energy technology.

This study carries out an in-depth analysis of urban water policy implementation in China through a policy cycle analysis and case study of Sponge city program. The policy cycle analysis articulates discrete steps within the policy formulation and implementation process, while the case studies reflect the specific problems in water project implementation. Because of the principal–agent relation between central and local government, a ‘‘double wheel’’ policy cycle model is adopted to reflect the policy cycles at central level and at local level. Changde city and Zhuanghe city, two demo cities in the Sponge city program, are chosen for the analysis. The policy cycle analysis shows that the central government orders local government to implement policy without clear direction on how to attract private sector participation. The evaluation of central government did not include private sector involvement, nor the sustainability of the investments. This promotes the local government’s pursuit of project construction completion objectives, without seriously considering private sector involvement and operation and maintenance (O&M) cost. The local governments do not have political motivation and experiences to attract private investments into project implementation. The case study in the two demo cities shows that local government subsidies are the main source of O&M funding currently, which is not sustainable. The water projects are not financially feasible because no sufficient revenue is generated to cover the high initial investments and O&M cost. The lack of private sector involvement makes it difficult to maintain adequate funding in O&M, leading to the unsustainability of the water projects. It is not easy to achieve private sector involvement, but it could be the key to realizing urban water resilience in a more sustainable way.

The discussion over public vs. private management in the operation of public transport has been on the research agenda for the past decade. Several studies have analyzed the benefits of private management; however, no study has analyzed the effects of the management model while controlling for other external factors such as economic crises and political factors. This study intends to focus on the impact of the ownership model (public vs. private) of urban rail firms on their efficiency, while expanding the existing literature by controlling for economic and political factors. The methodology consisted of the calculation of DEA scores and subsequent use of regression analysis to identify the main determinants. We used a data set of four Portuguese rail firms during the period 2009–2018 along with five distinct efficiency scores. The results show that privately managed firms tend to be more efficient, but with distinct behavior depending on the economic cycle. In periods of growing GDP, private firms lose their potential superiority over public firms. The results also show that election years and unemployment rate also play a role in understanding the efficiency scores of these firms.

Contracts have been developed to govern the relationship between principal and agent. These contracts are necessary for the principal to exert control over the agent assuming that the interest of both parties are at odds and information asymmetries exist. In the cases of private sector involvement in the expansion of water services in small towns in Mozambique we review in this paper we propose a revised approach to these assumptions. We argue that given the conditions present in small towns a different relationship is developed between private operators and asset holder than it would be the case in bigger, longer contracts for bigger urban centers. In this relationship much more information is exchanged and the objectives are shared, often making the conditions of the contract irrelevant for understanding how services have and will develop, giving more space to relational contracts and other informal arrangements.

The aim of the study is devoted to defining most effective tools of investment finds attraction. These finds can be used in implementation of strategic priorities for socio-economic regional development requiring, in areas that are in need of economic restructuring.

Purpose - The past few years have seen some private sector involvement in urban and small-town water provision in Ghana, as the government strives to improve access to water supply services for its citizens in line with millennium development goals. Since 1995, both central and local governments have entered into various forms of public-private partnerships (PPPs) contracts. The paper aims to examine challenges and investment needs of Ghanaian water supply sector that necessitated private sector involvement; trends, and factors that constrain the development and implementation of projects with private sector involvement in the sector. Design/methodology/approach - A research approach integrating multi-stage critical review of relevant related literature and case studies is adopted in this paper. The study is further informed by the authors' experience in the sector and knowledge of PPPs. Analysis of data from different sources, using both approaches, provides both historical and contemporary approach to water management practice in Ghana. Findings - The paper reveals that the Ghanaian water supply sector mirrors the classic challenges of public sector utilities in developing countries. Under-investment by government is the major cause of the ill-performance of the sector, necessitating private sector involvement. Management contract has emerged as a popular form of water supply PPP in Ghana. Further, optimal risk allocation has not been widely adopted in these contracts, and not yet been given much attention by practitioners and researchers in the literature of water management in Ghana. Originality/value - The paper provides useful insights into the constraints of the water supply sector, development and implementation challenges of PPPs in the sector, and prompts a need for more research on risk allocation in water supply PPP contracts.

What transforms a desirable project on a government wish list to an attractive investment opportunity in the eyes of a potential private sector partner? This guide seeks to enhance the chances of developing effective partnerships between the public and the private sectors by addressing one of the main obstacles to the effective delivery of public-private partnership (PPP) projects: having the right information on the right project for the right partners at the right time. Data from the World Bank and the Public-Private Infrastructure Advisory Facility (PPIAF) private participation in infrastructure (PPI) project database indicate that private sector investment in infrastructure in developing economies grew steadily over the past decade. By 2007 the levels had finally surpassed the peak levels seen in 1997, the end of the previous growth spurt. This guide focuses specifically on what should be done, and when, in order to prepare projects to attract the right long-term private partners, procure their involvement, and manage the partnership. This guide is not a detailed project preparation manual; rather, it seeks to provide an overview of the process and what is involved so that greater realism can be applied to this challenging task and adequate resource plans can be developed.

This study surveys active labor market programs (ALMPs) in selected countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, identifies key challenges to their effective and efficient delivery, and proposes a policy framework for reforming public service provision. This study draws on data collected through surveys administered to public social, employment, and education agencies in selected MENA countries to identify key constraints and options for reforming publicly provided employment programs. Recent political transitions arising from the Arab Spring have contributed to the deterioration of labor market outcomes in the MENA region. In this context, ALMPs could become an important policy lever to address some of the challenges facing labor markets. These include: joblessness, skills mismatches, lack of labor market mobility, large and expanding informal sector, and lack of formal employment networks. The study also provides specific details on the beneficiaries, targeting, and expenditures of ALMPs during this same period.

(Series Information) European Papers - A Journal on Law and Integration, 2016 1(1), 231-242 | European Forum Insight of 16 April 2016 | (Table of Contents) I. Introduction. - II. La reconnaissance implicite de l'imputabilité à la BCE du préjudice invoqué. - II.1. Le rejet de l'exception d'irrecevabilité. - II.2. Le choix de la condition de l'illégalité du comportement. - III. Le refus d'engager la responsabilité non contractuelle de la BCE. - III.1. L'absence de violation du principe de protection de la confiance légitime. - III.2. L'absence de violation du principe de l'égalité de traitement. | (Abstract) While Greece was suffering from the pressure of the financial markets resulting from the financial crisis and the partial default situation in which it had to struggle, a set of measures was adopted by both the Eurosystem and the Greek legislator. Part of these was the Private sector involvement program and the controversial mechanism it contains, namely the collective action clauses. Around two hundred creditors of the Hellenic republic who had suffered substantial losses due to this mechanism, claimed that the ECB was, at least partially, responsible for their prejudice. The Tribunal was then asked to rule on whether the ECB could be found liable for the losses the claimants alleged. While the Tribunal accepted to examine the merits of the case, and therefore did not reject the claim at the admissibility stage, it considered that the non-contractual liability of the ECB could not be engaged (Tribunal, arrêt du 7 octobre 2015, affaire T-79/13, Accorinti et al. c. BCE). Firstly, because neither of the actions and measures identified by the claimants were illegal under EU law, notably with regard to the protection of legitimate expectations and the equal treatment principle. Secondly, because the non-fault liability regime does not exist, at present, in the EU legal order. Regularly along the judgment, the Tribunal insisted on the exceptional circumstances of the financial crisis period and the own responsibility of the private investors in this context. This Insight seeks to demonstrate how the Tribunal, while implicitly acknowledging the accountability of the ECB for the claimants losses, nevertheless rejected the liability claim.

Historically, ensuring access to primary education has been seen as a predominantly public responsibility. However, governments are increasingly sharing this responsibility through a variety of subsidiary arrangements. Some governments are contracting services out to the private sector, to non-governmental organizations, and even to other public agencies. Some societies are transferring responsibility for financing, providing, and regulating primary education to lower levels of government, and in some cases, to communities. In education policy, public-private partnerships play an important role in enhancing the supply and the quality of human capital. Mobilizing the Private Sector for Public Education explores the burgeoning number of public-private partnerships in public education in different parts of the world. The partnerships differ in form and structure, in the extent of public and private participation, and in the forms of their engagement. The essays in this book are written mainly from the provider's perspective and offer valuable insights into the purpose, trend, and impact of public-private partnerships, and an understanding of the barriers they face.