Dexter Whitfield and the UN

A new UN report mentions our colleague Dexter Whitfield, from his 2010 work Global Auction of Public Assets.

The report, entitled Public-Private Partnerships and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: Fit for purpose?, references Dexter on page 1:

'Whitfield (2010) provided a survey of PPPs around the world, showing how the model has been adapted to the economic, political and legal environments of different countries in Europe, North America, Australia, Russia, China, India and Brazil. It also examined the growing secondary market in PPP investments, “buying and selling schools and hospitals like commodities in a global supermarket” (p. 183) as well as the increasing number of PPP failures, usually as a result of investors’ “miscalculations; states pick up the tab when they walk away”. It found cases of deceptive techniques of assessing value for money (VfM) and manipulations of risk transfer so that PPPs appear to out-perform traditional public provision. Most importantly, Whitfield claimed that PPPs undermine democracy by systematically reducing the responsibility, capability, and power of the state.'

A full version of the report is available here:

https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/2288desaworkingpaper148.pdf

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Global Auction of Public Assets: Public sector alternatives to the infrastructure market & Public Private Partnerships

Dexter Whitfield

Published by Spokesman Books

Paperback £18 (ISBN 978085124773)

ePub £11.99 (ISBN 9780851247847)

Both available from our website, Spokesman Books.

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