发展中国家间跨国公共物品机制设计
1 Introduction
It is well recognized by now, both among practitioners and scholars, that proper infrastructures are key to economic development. Several empirical studies illustrate the impact
of infrastructures on economic growth.1 A 1 % increase in the stock of infrastructures can increase GDP by up to .20 %. Despite this importance, some countries have faced
a signi cant shortage in accessing to crucial infrastructures. For instance, the stock and quality levels of infrastructures in Latin America and Caribbean countries has lost signi -cant ground relative to East Asia and OECD countries. To illustrate that point, Calderon and Serven (2002) show that, from 1980 to 1997, the Latin America infrastructure gap relative to East Asia grew by 40% for roads, 70% for telecommunications and nearly 90% for power generation. They argue that this widening infrastructure gap can account for nearly 25% of the Latin America's GDP output gap relative to the East Asian economies
over the 1980-2000 period.
In response to this, and given the scarcity of public funds in LDCs,2 most developing
countries have turned to the foreign private sector for nancing and operating infrastructure.
However, a number of diculties have emerged from this strategy. First, some
countries have failed to attract foreign investments. Second, even those who succeeded
have sometimes faced a high rate of renegotiation for these contracts.3 Initiated by governments
or concessionnaries, those renegotiations have often created public opposition to
what is sometimes presented, for water concessions in particular, as a loss of sovereignty.
Whatever the strength of the motivations behind these public positions, alternative
ways of nancing infrastructures should be looked for. How to reconcile the need for more
investment in public infrastructures and the aspiration of LDCs for a close control of their
public services is a major political question today.
Cooperation among small LDCs, such as those of Central America or of the Mediteranean
Rim, might be a potential solution. Sometimes the least-cost approach to improving
the supply of infrastructure services requires cross-country integration of networks
or shared access to a common resource. This is certainly the case for infrastructure
projects that arise out of the growth of commerce and trade. Examples include road
and rail networks, power grids4 and telecommunication networks.
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