A critical assessment of the incomplete contracts theory for private participation in public services: the case of the water sector in Ghana
批判性分析不完全契约理论在公共服务私有化中的应用，通过加纳城市水务管理合同案例，指出该理论忽视政治、制度和分配背景，对所有权效率的指导不统一。
This paper provides a critical analysis of the recent developments in the incomplete contracts theory and its conclusions for privatisation of public services. Drawing on a case study of management contract for urban water services in Ghana and highlighting the flaws in the theory, the article argues that contractual incompleteness does not provide a uniform guidance on efficient forms of ownership. We argue that methodological individualism utilised in the theory is particularly ineffective for its application to public services where direct or indirect contractual role of the state cannot be eliminated. The sterility of the theory with respect to political, institutional and distributional context of public service delivery is identified as an important weakness. Copyright , Oxford University Press.