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The growing use of public-private partnerships (PPPs) in infrastructure delivery has rekindled the public versus private cost-of-capital debate. Early debate concluded that the social cost of public-sector capital is below that of private capital because risk can be spread across numerous taxpayers. Intervening research focused on the agency costs that arise due to increased separation between equity holders and managers and the various mechanisms to control those agency costs. We analyze differences in public versus private residual claims and their associated agency costs. We conclude that earlier discussions that omitted agency-cost analysis should be revisited. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The aim of this study is, first to describe and explore equity agency costs; second, to explore the impact of capital structure on equity agency costs; and finally, to examine the impact of agency costs on the performance of listed companies. Methodology: Panel data regression has been used for research data analysis. Results: The results of the work show that equity to capital and long-term debt to capital variables have a positive and significant impact on the agency costs of listed companies in the Republic of Croatia. The study indicates that long-term debt to capital variable has a negative and significant impact on the agency costs of listed companies in Slovenia and the Czech Republic. Furthermore, we find evidence to suggest that changes in agency costs have little or no effect on the performance of listed companies in Croatia, Slovenia and the Czech Republic. The findings suggest that the capital structure decisions affect the agency costs of listed companies and the agency costs may affect corporate performance. Conclusion: This study makes a number of contributions to the agency costs literature. It presents the first study of agency costs of listed companies in Croatia, Slovenia and the Czech Republic that uses panel data, a technique that enables us to isolate both cross section and time series effects. The present paper can help managers to better understand equity agency costs and their effects on corporate performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]