Conceptualizing Corruption in Public Private Partnerships

This article conceptualizes the vulnerability of the different stages of Public-Private Partner-ship (PPP) models for corruption against the backdrop of contract theory, principal-agent theory and transaction cost economics, and discusses potential control mechanisms. The article’s contribution to the debate on PPPs is twofold: first, an issue widely neglected by the pertinent literature is conceptualized. Second, as these PPPs are used not only in de-veloped countries whose legal order may shield them sufficiently, but also in developing countries, carving out the vulnerable points in PPP arrangements may enable decision mak-ers to install appropriate control mechanisms, if need be on project level.