A Political Economy of Privatization Contracts : The Case of Water and Sanitation in Ghana and Argentina

This document is the Accepted Manuscript version of the following article: Hulya Dagdeviren, Simon A. Robertson, 'A Political Economy of Privatization Contracts: The Case of Water and Sanitation in Ghana and Argentina', Competition & Change, Vol. 18 (2): 150-163, April 2014. The final, published version is available online at DOI: https://doi.org/10.1179/1024529414Z.00000000053. Published by SAGE.In general, the process and outcomes of privatization have been studied from the point of view of efficiency. In this article, we consider issues in the course of contract design, implementation, management and enforcement in privatized public services and utilities. The study is based on two case studies, involving several water concessions in Argentina and a management contract in the urban water sector in Ghana. Three key arguments are presented on the basis of these case studies. The first is that an individualistic analytical framework is often utilized by the mainstream economic perspectives, but these are inadequate for a comparative assessment of private versus public provision in public services where there are distinct collective or group interests and hence a wider socio-economic context and representation of different interests becomes highly important. Instead, the article proposes a political economy perspective, which pays due attention to distributional issues, group interests, ideology of states and power relations for the assessment of privatization contracts. Second, the administrative capacity of states and their resources play a key role for the outcomes of privatization. Finally, while some contractual issues could be resolved through resourcing and experience over time, others are inherent to the contractual relations with little prospect of remedy.Peer reviewe

On fuzzy frontiers and fragmented foundations : some reflections on the original and new institutional economics

This article has been published in a revised form in Journal of Institutional Economics, doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1744137414000307 This version is free to view and download for private research and study only. Not for re-distribution, re-sale or use in derivative works. © 2014 Millennium Economics Ltd, published by Cambridge University Press.These reflections are prompted by the papers by Ménard (2014) and Ménard and Shirley (2014). Their essays centre on the path-breaking contributions to the 'new institutional economics' (NIE) by Ronald Coase, Douglass North and Oliver Williamson. In response, while recognising their substantial achievements, it is pointed out that these three thinkers had contrasting views on key points. Furthermore, Ménard's and Shirley's three 'golden triangle' NIE concepts - transaction costs, property rights and contracts - are themselves disputed. Once all this is acknowledged, differences of view appear within the NIE, raising interesting questions concerning its identity and boundaries, including its differences with the original institutionalism. There are sizeable overlaps between the two traditions. It is argued here that the NIE can learn from the original institutionalism, particularly when elaborating more dynamic analyses, and developing more nuanced, psychologically-grounded and empirically viable theories of human motivation.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

Determinants of property rights in Poland and Ukraine: the polity or politicians?

North (1994) famously remarked that ‘it is the polity that defines and enforces property rights’. This paper traces the development of property rights in Poland and Ukraine and explores their divergence over the past three centuries using North's framework of economic calculation. In each country, the distribution of political power and political institutions had a profound impact on property rights. Indeed, while it was the Polish polity that defined the evolution of property rights from 1386 to 1795 and then from 1989 onward, due to diffusion of power, it was Ukrainian politicians that controlled the destiny of property rights for most of Ukraine's history. This situation has not changed despite the Maidan revolution in Ukraine, and recent moves in Poland show how tenuous property rights are in the face of political opposition

The Impossibility of a Perfectly Competitive Labor Market

Using the institutional theory of transaction cost, I demonstrate that the assumptions of the competitive labor market model are internally contradictory and lead to the conclusion that on purely theoretical grounds a perfectly competitive labor market is a logical impossibility. By extension, the familiar diagram of wage determination by supply and demand is also a logical impossibility and the neoclassical labor demand curve is not a well-defined construct. The reason is that the perfectly competitive market model presumes zero transaction cost and with zero transaction cost all labor is hired as independent contractors, implying multi-person firms, the employment relationship, and labor market disappear. With positive transaction cost, on the other hand, employment contracts are incomplete and the labor supply curve to the firm is upward sloping, again causing the labor demand curve to be ill-defined. As a result, theory suggests that wage rates are always and everywhere an amalgam of an administered and bargained price. Working Paper 06-0

Derechos de propiedad informales y gestión comunal de las pesquerías en el País Vasco. Un enfoque ecológico-institucional

Editada en la Fundación SEPIEste trabajo tiene como objetivo estudiar el papel desempeñado por las cofradías de mareantes en el desarrollo y la gestión de la pesca en el País Vasco hasta principios del siglo XX. Gracias a un marco institucional particular, los gremios vascos construyeron un modelo de gestión específico que permitió la explotación exclusiva de los recursos pesqueros en la costa vasca. Una parte importante del carácter de este régimen de explotación se deriva de las particularidades de los recursos pesqueros y de los mercados de la pesca, pero también está relacionado con un modelo histórico de organización y de relación de la sociedad con la naturaleza. Finalmente, se presentan las consecuencias sociales y económicas de la transformación de la base legal que indirectamente sustentaba el aprovechamiento exclusivo en el último cuarto del siglo XIX.This paper deals with the role played by the Maritime Guilds in the development and management of the fisheries conducted firom the Basque shore until the first half of the 20th century. It contends that thanks to a particular institutional framework Guilds were able to build up a management model based on the exclusive use of the fishing resources. The character of this regime of use stems from the behaviour of the fishing resources and from the characteristics of the fish markets in Spain before the 20th century, but it is also related to an historical model of organisation and relationship between society and nature. Finally, the social and economic consequences of the process of institutional change that eliminated the legal basis of the exclusiveness are analysed.Publicad

Legal Personhood and the Firm: Avoiding Anthropomorphism and Equivocation

This article has been published in a revised form in Journal of Institutional Economics, doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1744137415000235. This version is free to view and download for private research and study only. Not for re-distribution, re-sale or use in derivative works. © Millennium Economics Ltd 2015. Published by Cambridge University Press.From the legal point of view, ‘person’ is not co-extensive with ‘human being’. Nor is it synonymous with ‘rational being’ or ‘responsible subject’. Much of the confusion surrounding the issue of the firm's legal personality is due to the tendency to address the matter with only these, all too often conflated, definitions of personhood in mind. On the contrary, when the term ‘person’ is defined in line with its original meaning as ‘mask’ worn in the legal drama, it is easy to see that it is only the capacity to attract legal relations that defines the legal person. This definition, that avoids the undesirable emotional associations and equivocations that often plague the debate, is important for a legally grounded view of the firmPeer reviewe

Slåttemusikkens undertekst. Undersøkingar av språket kring slåttemusikken

This thesis explores how language might influence and shape our understanding and experience of Norwegian traditional instrumental music, also known as «slåttemusikk». By conducting close readings of three key texts, this thesis investigates the following topics: perspectives on improvisation in slåttemusikk; how language can alienate listeners or create an intimacy in regard to the music; in what way folk tales and myths might affect a listeners experience of traditional music; to what extent knowledge is deemed necessary to have a rewarding encounter with the slåttemusikk; how autobiographical narratives can be considered in context to traditional music. In addition, new text, i.e., fictional stories, have been written by the author to further explore the eaning of myths and legends surrounding slåttemusikk. Avhandlinga undersøker korleis språk kan vera med på å forma forståinga og opplevinga av slåttemusikken. Gjennom nærlesingar av tre nøkkeltekstar utforskar avhandlinga mellom anna kva for nokre perspektiv ulike aktørar har på improvisasjon i slåttemusikken, korleis språk kan enten framandgjera eller skapa intimitet med slåttemusikken, på kva måte soger kan rettleia lyttinga av slåttemusikk, i kva grad kunnskap er naudsynleg for å oppleva slåttemusikken som meiningsfull, og kva rolle det autobiografiske spelar for aktørar på slåttemusikkfeltet. I tillegg er det skrive skjønnlitterære tekstar, nye mytar, som utforskar og utfordrar slåttesogene og mytanes rolle i slåttekulturen

Unlocking value from machines: business models and the industrial internet of things

In this article we argue that the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) offers new opportunities and harbors threats that companies are not able to address with existing business models. Entrepreneurship and Transaction Cost Theories are used to explore the conditions for designing nonownership business models for the emerging IIoT with its implications for sharing uncertain opportunities and downsides, and for transforming these uncertainties into business opportunities. Nonownership contracts are introduced as the basis for business model design and are proposed as an architecture for the productive sharing of uncertainties in IIoT manufacturing networks. The following three main types of IIoT-enabled business models were identified: (1) Provision of manufacturing assets, maintenance and repair, and their operation, (2) innovative information and analytical services that help manufacturing (e.g., based on artificial intelligence, big data, and analytics), and (3) new services targeted at end-users (e.g., offering efficient customization by integrating end-users into the manufacturing and supply chain ecosystem)