Valuation of the Indiana Toll Road and Chicago Skyway privatizations

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2010.Page 5 missing. Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 151-153).This thesis analyzes the economics and financing of the recent purchases of the Indiana Toll Road and Chicago Skyway. Similar privatizations have been occurring around the world, but the economic motive for such transactions has been unclear. The analysis attempts to isolate the costs and benefits of such transactions as the transfer of the asset from public to private owner takes place. I examine whether the privatization would have been financially beneficial for the State of Indiana or the City of Chicago if it did not face budget constraints or political constraints on raising tolls. There seems to be significant disadvantage of such deals absent these constraints. I show this by computing value under various scenarios. After analyzing the results, I conclude by highlighting the policy implications for such privatization deals in future.by Faiza Arshad.M.C.P

Corporate Governance in the Financial Sector of Pakistan

La Porta et al. (1998) assign Pakistan, a common-law country, the maximum score of 5 for their anti-director rights index. Pakistan should therefore be a country with good investor protection attracting large amounts of investments. However, the reality could not be more different. Pakistan has been lagging behind other, comparable Asian economies in terms of incoming foreign direct investment as well as GDP-per-capita growth. This paper focuses on the Pakistani banking sector. The paper analyses the banks ownership and control structure. It finds that Pakistan has its own idiosyncrasies, which are difficult to associate with La Porta et al.s characterisation of corporate governance and investor protection in common-law countries. The paper also reviews the recent reforms of corporate governance.Corporate governance, corporate control, Banks, Pakistan, Emerging Markets, investor protection