ABSTRACT
The infrastructure sectors that have been opened to private investment, including foreign investment, have generally been ones in which the rationales for economies of scale creating natural monopolies have been less persuasive, such as transportation. Many countries have an urgent need for infrastructure development and technological advances to enhance global competitiveness and efficiency, but there have been shortfalls in government budgets to finance these projects. Under duress, governments have turned to foreign investors to finance these projects. During the period under examination, the government of the Philippines allowed foreign ownership in electric power generation. Filipino companies developed considerable expertise in the construction and management of public utilities and roads to the extent that Filipino companies became significant players abroad, especially in the Middle East. The government of The Republic of Korea, with less pressure on government budgets, largely kept its restrictions on foreign ownership in place.
