Privatization: Successes and Failures

Published by Columbia University Press 2008

Privatization

Successes and Failures

Edited by: Gérard Roland
Preface by: Joseph E. Stiglitz

In the series Initiative for Policy Dialogue at Columbia: Challenges in Development and Globalization

https://doi.org/10.7312/rola14160

Overview
Contents

About this book

The privatization of large state-owned enterprises is one of the most radical policy developments of the last quarter century. Right-wing governments have privatized in an effort to decrease the size of government, while left-wing governments have privatized either to compensate for the failures of state-owned firms or to generate revenues. In this way, privatization has spread from Europe to Latin America, from Asia to Africa, reaching its zenith with Central and Eastern Europe's transition from socialism to capitalism.

In many countries state ownership has been an important tool in bringing cheap water, energy, and transport to poorer segments of the population. In other instances, it has sponsored aggressive cutbacks, corruption, and cronyism. Privatization: Successes and Failures evaluates the practices and results of privatization in Eastern Europe, Africa, Latin America, and Asia. Featuring the world's leading economists and experts on privatization, this volume offers a broad and balanced analysis of specific privatization projects and uncovers some surprising trends. Partial privatization, for example, tends to be more widespread than one might think, and the effects of privatization on efficiency are generally mixed but rarely negative. Also, while privatization appears uncontroversial in competitive sectors, it becomes increasingly complex in more monopolistic sectors where good regulation is crucial. Privatization concludes with alternative frameworks for countries in Africa and other regions that seek to develop privatization policy and programs.

Author / Editor information

Gérard Roland is professor of economics and political science at the University of California, Berkeley. A leading expert in the field of transition economics and institutional change, he is the author of Transition and Economics: Politics, Markets, and Firms.

Joseph E. Stiglitz is University Professor at Columbia University and former chief economist and senior vice president of the World Bank. Among his books are Escaping the Resource Curse and Globalization and Its Discontents, which has been translated into twenty-eight languages. In 2001 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in economics.

Reviews

An extremely valuable monograph... Highly recommended.

Paul Sweeney:
This book should be compulsory reading.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
THE INITIATIVE FOR POLICY DIALOGUE AT COLUMBIA Jose Antonio Ocampo, Joseph E. Stiglitz and Shari Spiegel Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	v
CONTENTS Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
FOREWORD Joseph E. Stiglitz Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	ix
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	xxi
Introduction Gérard Roland Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
1. Private and Public Ownership in Economic Theory Gérard Roland Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	9
2. Privatization in Western Eu rope: Stylized Facts, Outcomes, and Open Issues Bernardo Bortolotti and Valentina Milella Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	32
3. Privatization in Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States Jan Hanousek, Evžen Kocĕnda and Jan Svejnar Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	76
4. Privatization in Africa: What Has Happened? What Is to Be Done? John Nellis Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	109
5. Privatization in Latin America: The Good, the Ugly, and the Unfair Antonio Estache and Lourdes Trujillo Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	136
6. Privatization in South Asia Nandini Gupta Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	170
7. A Critical Review of the Evolving Privatization Debate K. S. Jomo Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	199
Contributors Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	213
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	219

Language: English
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 256
Illustrations
- Other: 10 illus., 20 tables

eBook

Published: June 23, 2008
ISBN: 9780231518284