The evolutionary path of adopting PPP in the transport sector of China

In light of evolutionary theories, China has experienced dramatic institutional transitions in financing large transport projects in recent decades, resulting in two new equilibria: the rise and fall of Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs). This article looks at the adoption of PPPs as a phenomenon of institutional transplantation or policy transfer, describes these two equilibria and explains the path by which such institutional arrangement went through one equilibrium to another. It argues that specifies of wider Chinese political, cultural and institutional context are important factors that influence the adoption of PPPs. That means, these historical legacies play significant roles in understanding contemporary use of PPPs in China and they are the origins from which the sub-optimal statuses of the equilibria are often led.