Ownership, Contractual Practices and Technical Efficiency: The Case of Urban Public Transport in France

Ownership, Contractual Practices and Technical Efficiency: The Case of Urban Public Transport in France

[SHS:ECO] Humanities and Social Sciences/Economy and finances

Contracts

Contractual Incentives

Contractual arrangements

Ownership

Efficiency

Performance

Urban Public Transport

Public Service Governance

This paper investigates the impact of ownership structure and contractual choices on technical efficiency in the French urban public transport sector. The central proposition, which relies on classical contract theory arguments, is that ownership regime and contractual practices are key determinants of performances.<br />To test this proposition, we use an original panel data set covering 135 different French urban transport networks over the period 1995-2002 and we apply a stochastic frontier methodology.<br />The econometric results corroborate our proposition: the technical efficiency of urban public transport operators depends on the ownership regime and on the type of contract governing their transactions.

Roy, William

Yvrande-Billon, Anne

Journal of Transport Economics and Policy

Journal of Transport Economics and Policy

Journal of Transport Economics and Policy

2007-05

ENG

article in peer-reviewed journal

http://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-00107375

PUBLICNRS: 521606

http://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/docs/00/10/73/75/PDF/JTEP_2061R_a_mettre_en_ligne.pdf

London

United Kingdom