Privatization: The theme of the 1990s

Privatization has clearly become the development issue of the 1990s. While not an end in itself, privatization of state owned enterprises should be viewed as a critical element of economic adjustment. Distilled from his extensive involvement with privatization programs, Lieberman identifies the underlying rationale for privatization, presents lessons to be learned in program design, and cautions against pitfalls to successful program implementation.     

美国监狱私有化原因研究

私有化是将政府整体或部分职责转移到私人部门的过程,监狱私有化意味着私人部门参与提供传统上由政府提供的管教服务.探究美国监狱私有化的原因,有助于估计私人监狱运动的发展前景.美国监狱私有化现象的主要动因在于快速增长的囚犯、监狱过度拥挤和成本问题.尽管监狱私有化不一定向声称的那样能够大幅度降低成本和提高效率,但是真正重要的是认识到私有化节约成本和提高效率本身是竞争过程的结果.最为重要的事情是决定如何最好地提供有关服务,而不是简单地选择要么由公共部门,要么由私人部门负责监狱体系的运转.通过引入竞争力量与机制,监狱私有化也许仍然有发展的空间.     

Serving those going private: The role of accountancy in privatization

Privatization, as a term and as an art, has been growing steadily in importance since the 1980s. But what is it, and how is it actually accomplished? Mastrangelo and McPhail set forth a primer explaining the basic concepts of privatization, and the roles taken on by the “Big Six” accounting firms and, to a lesser extent, consultancies and investment banks.     

Foreign direct investment in Central Eastern Europe

Foreign direct investment (FDI) has a significant role to play not only in the process of accelerating privatization, but in the development and strengthening of the emerging market economies of Central Eastern Europe (CEE). The inflow of FDI into Poland up to 1994 was marginal as compared to Hungary and the Czech Republic. The following paper examines the situation in Poland and outlines what lessons can be learnt from the Hungarian experience.     

The privatization of telecommunications services: The case of Argentina

The Argentine telecommunications system is characterized by its poor quality of service. A deep national economic crisis and a huge fiscal deficit, combined with worldwide changes in the telecommunications sector, lead the Argentine government to the privatization of ENTel beginning in 1989. Herrera provides a detailed account of the economics surrounding the decision to privatize and the privatization program itself.     

First steps towards a cyclical theory for LDCs

The development of the Third World countries which are producers of raw materials and agricultural products has become a cardinal problem of economic science and policy. Concentration on the question what is the best development strategy to obtain maximum growth of the national product has led to neglect of the complex of problems covered by the theory of the economic cycle which attempts to explain the short-term fluctuations of the national product.     

中国港口民营化改革:进展、问题与对策

在目前全球化背景下,港口成为一国经济发展和区域经济竞争的承载体,也是全球供应链整合过程中的重要环节,如何通过深化港口改革来吸引投资,从而提升区域经济的发展速度和相关企业的竞争能力,成为我国港口面临的一个紧切问题。本文将在分析国外港口民营化情况的基础上,分析我国港口民营化改革进展和当前存在的问题,并对我国未来港口民营化改革提出了相应的建议。     

Modern Russian corporate governance: convergent forces or product of Russia’s history?

Does Russian corporate governance in the new millennium amount to a gradual evolution towards US-style corporate governance, or can it be expected to continue to reflect historical institutions and national culture? When multinationals complain about State interference in firms’ strategies and operations, can this be a permanent state of affairs, or is the situation likely to change?After 1991, Russia, in the middle of a huge crisis, embarked on a program of mass privatization, ostensibly with a view to creating full, market-based corporate governance, with open information disclosure, and enterprise ownership by outside investors having no relationship with the firm other then through their shares. In practice, however, it has become clear that a very different pattern has emerged, especially in manufacturing industries with relational investors, including managers and employees, as well as banks and other firms linked horizontally or vertically, little share liquidity. There is continued hostility towards active western and other genuinely ‘outside’ investors, and persistently strong State influence. This paper argues that this outcome can only be understood in the context of business history.     

“Diamonds and rust” on Russia's road to privatization: The profits and pitfalls for western managers

McCarthy and Puffer focus on large, state-owned Russian enterprises, and explore what changes have occurred in them during the recent privatization process. They compare the conditions facing Russian managers in these firms at the beginning of 1995 with the situations reported by managers of state-owned enterprises during the early stages of privatization in 1992. They make several recommendations to Western business managers to assist them in uncovering the potential “diamonds” among Russian enterprises, rather than wasting time fruitlessly scraping at the rust of others.     

Different paths to economic reform in Russia and China: causes and consequences

Economic reform in Russia has been described as ‘shock therapy’ because rapid industrial privatization, price liberalization and democratic reforms of the political system were introduced simultaneously. However, shock therapy led to insider control of most manufacturing firms, with important consequences for foreign investment. In contrast, China’s ‘gradualist’ reforms, without privatization or significant democratization, facilitated foreign joint ventures as the dominant means of reforming State-owned enterprises incrementally. This paper proposes an explanation for these contrasting reform paths in Russia and China and then traces their consequences for inward foreign domestic investment (FDI), exporting and for corporate governance in the short and long term. The impact of national level policies on enterprises is demonstrated in a matched pair of cases in Russia and China. Conclusions are drawn for policy, for practice and for future research.     

Optimal trade,industrial, and privatization policies in a mixed duopoly with strategic managerial incentives

Abstract

This paper examines optimal trade, industrial, and privatization policies in a home-market model of mixed international duopoly with strategic managerial incentives. Under linear demand and constant marginal costs, the optimal degree of privatization is shown to depend crucially on cost and demand parameters and on the availability of strategic trade and industrial policies. If both firms are equally efficient, optimal trade and industrial policies drive out the foreign firm and the privatization policy loses its effect on national welfare; however, if the home firm is less efficient, then full privatization combined with an import tariff and a production subsidy is optimal for the home country, while an export subsidy is optimal for the foreign country. If trade and industrial policies are unavailable and if both firms are equally efficient, full state-ownership, which drives out the foreign firm, becomes optimal; however, if the home firm is less efficient, only partial privatization is optimal, The state-ownership share is increased if either the market size grows, the home firm's efficiency increases, or the foreign firm's efficiency decreases. Further, the paper demonstrates the potential conflict between privatization and trade liberalization policies.     

Privatization in Saudi Arabia: Is slow beautiful?

The aim of this article is to abridge the dearth of academic research on Saudi Arabia's privatization strategy, which is touted by government as key to empowering the business community in the largest economy in the Middle East and North Africa region. Whereas some contend privatization has moved at a slow pace and that the business model employed for privatizing public enterprises lacks commercial business efficiency standards, government retorts that, guided by an organized and sequential process, privatization has been successful. This article maintains that if privatization is to confer the benefits claimed for it and sway international investors equipped with modern managerial skills and technical know‐how, authorities need to accelerate privatization and subject enterprises to steadfast market competitive forces. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Has the acceleration of privatization become inevitable in Bahrain?

Bahrain remains the most vulnerable Gulf country due to its limited savings and sharp rise in debt levels, leaving it exposed to high financing risks. The financial crisis has been deepened by the economic double blow of the decline in oil prices and the effects resulting from the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. Bahrain has decreased subsidies and increased taxes on many products. Those measures seem, however, insufficient to mitigate the negative impacts on the economy. This paper presents a model based on a comparison between fast privatization and gradual privatization strategies undertaken in some Bahraini economic sectors. It shows that the contribution of privatization to economic restructuring is only as effective as the commitment of the government to maintain a high pace of privatization. This condition can provide needed revenues, and can particularly foster private investments and initiatives. Therefore, it may represent an appropriate context to elevate Bahrain out of the present equilibrium characterized by slow privatization and government dominance on the economy.     

The Increased Role of Foreign Capital in the Peruvian Financial System

Summary

Foreign investment has played a very important role in developing Peru's banking sector since 1990. Indeed, as of June 1998, half of all bank assets were foreign-controlled. Much of this increased participation by outside entities can be traced to the privatization drive and to discriminatory reserve requirements on domestic deposits. Despite financial deepening, the analysis conducted here finds that the financial sector has not become more efficient in lowering the cost of intermediation as measured by the interest spread between loans and deposits.     

The Impact of Structural Reforms on Telecommunications Performance

The paper investigates to what extent regulation, competition and privatization affect Telecommunications performance for 30 OECD countries over the period 1975–2013. This study explores the difference between separate and joint effects among these structural reform variables, in the concept of a dynamic model, taking also into account the difference between short run and long run effects. We argue that regulation has a more aggressive effect on performance when it is combined with the other two structural reform variables in both models.     

基于实证的考量：公私合作制的概念、动因及本质

市政公用事业的民营化已成为全球民营化改革的主流。实践证明,在市政公用事业领域,由公共部门和私营部门共同参与生产和提供公共物品及服务的制度安排作为一种全新的概念模式方兴未艾。它被形象地称作＂公私合作制＂,其内涵正不断被各国独具特色的实践所演绎和丰富。传统监管模式的失灵是催生公私合作制的根本动因,从中亦折射出西方国家对这种传统监管进行深度反思与大胆革新的智慧和勇气。公私合作制绝非简单的产权改革,更不是所谓的＂私有化＂,从本质上看,它是一项依托政府承担监管责任,通过竞争机制与市场监管良性互动予以维系的综合性制度。     

Policy transfer and policy inertia: privatization in Taiwan

In recent years, privatization seems to have been more talked about than carried out in a number of countries. This study looks at the progress of privatization in Taiwan in the light of the literature on policy transfer. Although the government of Taiwan announced a privatization programme in the late 1980s, by the end of 1998 sales of state-owned enterprises had occurred much more slowly than planned. The first part of the article reviews the literature on policy transfer. Policy transfer has been described as the process by which policies transfer from one country to another due to mimetic, normative or coercive effects. Taiwan's privatization programme is then reviewed and the main barriers to change are identified. The study concludes by considering the implications of Taiwan's record on privatization for our understanding of policy transfer in an international context.     

Privatization of health care services in Canada: Reform or regress?

The emergence of the privatization of health care services as one of the dominant health policy issues in many western industrialized countries is no doubt related to a number of factors, including rising health care costs, fiscal crisis in the form of budgetary deficits, charges of public waste and mismanagement and underfunding, the onset of a new era of political and fiscal conservatism, and professional and corporate antipathy to certain aspects of publicly financed health insurance schemes. The paper discusses the meaning of privatization and stresses the importance of recognizing the different forms of privatization and the need to assess these forms against well specified health policy objectives. Current and proposed forms of privatization in Canada are described and evaluated. It is concluded that there are sound arguments against privatization through user fees for insured physician and hospital services. As for the other forms of privatization there are confusing and inconsistent findings that preclude a definitive conclusion as to the wisdom of a general push for privatization. It is stressed that there are not many empirically established facts about the likely effects of privatization and the many claims about the virtues of privatization are far from substantiated by careful research. In the absence of such evidence the push for reprivatization seems, as some critics have pointed out, ideologically motivated.     

Antecedents of consumers’ intention to visit food trucks

The food truck industry has become a national phenomenon in the United States by gaining attention and praise. However, there has been limited attention on how and why consumers decide to patronize food trucks. The purpose of the study is to investigate determinants of consumers’ intention to patronize food trucks by applying the model of goal-directed behavior. Structural equation modeling was employed to assess the relationships among constructs in the proposed research model. This study contributes significant theoretical and practical implications by first attempting to examine what specific psychological variables influence the decision-making process regarding consumers’ intention to visit food trucks.     

Privatization in the Czech Republic

Inexorably, privatization is rolling through Central and Eastern Europe, generally following two paths: a slow, deliberate pace or a rapid transformation. Each method has its advantages and advocates. But one nation, the Czech Republic, has taken a modified path that combines both approaches. Sacks examines the Czech privatization process through the government's policy goals, its successes, and the problems it has encountered in its privatization push.