2023/04/21 by Massimo Finocchiaro Castroa, Castroa, Massimo Finocchiaro, Calogero Guccio +3
Business, Management and Accounting · Decision Sciences · Environmental Science · #Auction Theory and Applications #FOS: Economics and business #General Economics (econ.GN) #Public Procurement and Policy #Urban Planning and Valuation
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2304.10776
openalex publication_date 2023/04/21 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Public infrastructure procurement is crucial as a prerequisite for public and private investments and for economic and social capital growth. However, low performance in execution severely hinders infrastructure provision and benefits delivery. One of the most sensitive phases in public infrastructure procurement is the design because of the strategic relationship that it potentially creates between procurers and contractors in the execution stage, affecting the costs and the duration of the contract. In this paper, using recent developments in non-parametric frontiers and propensity score matching, we evaluate the performance in the execution of public works in Italy. The analysis provides robust evidence of significant improvement of performance where procurers opt for a design and build contracts, which lead to lower transaction costs, allowing contractors to better accommodate the project in the execution. Our findings bear considerable policy implications.