State versus private provision: How does China’s market‐oriented reform affect healthcare delivery?

The role of the government in health care provision remains a contested issue worldwide. Public hospitals dominate China’s health care industry. However, in the early 2000s, the eastern China city of Suqian privatized all its hospitals and relaxed entry barriers for private hospitals. We assess the impact of the pro‐market reform on hospital performance using a differences‐in‐differences approach. We find that the pro‐market reform decreased medical price and expenditure, improved self‐reported health outcomes, and reduced search time and cost for patients. We show that after the reform, Suqian residents had greater trust in doctors than did residents from other cities.     

Wy are the transition paths in China and Eastern Europe different?

The purpose of this paper is to provide a framework linking communist regime collapse and privatizing economic reforms. The framework permits us to explain why certain communist regimes lost their monopoly of political power while others have not. We show that the essential difference between those communist regimes which survived economic reform and those which did not, lies in the nature of the privatization reform introduced by the communist leadership. The privatization that we call ‘Market‐Leninist’, was implemented in China and Vietnam while the second type of privatization, termed ‘Embezzlement for a rainy day’ was the type of privatization implemented in Eastern Europe. We show, in the context of a game between rulers and the population, that the size of the repressive apparatus is the key element determining the type of privatization chosen by the rulers. JEL classification: P2, P3.     

State Ownership, Privatization and Performance in Singapore: An Exploratory Study from a Strategic Management Perspective

This paper considers the ownership debate with regard to state-owned enterprises (SOEs) performance, that is, whether superior performance of SOEs can be achieved under state ownership. While the traditional belief has been, supported by empirical work, that private ownership is generally associated with superior performance, the experience of Singapore is a clear example to the contrary. We outline global privatization trends and discuss the impact of privatization programs. We then discuss Singapore Telecom as a case where state ownership combined with several contextual and firm-related factors, especially firm strategy, has led to sustained world-class performance. We develop a theoretical framework for this analysis based on the strategic management field. We lastly outline some theoretical and practical implications of the analysis.     

Privatization and Regulatory Reform in Brazil: The Case of Freight Railways

A variety of proposals for creating more competition within the railroad sector and in the broader freight transport sector are under consideration in countries throughout the world. Brazil, though something of a latecomer to wider infrastructure reform, has recently taken large steps in restructuring its railroad system. This paper analyzes Brazils ongoing railroad reforms, seeking to place them in the context both of the broader reform project going on in Brazil and of railroad reforms taking place in developing and developed countries worldwide.     

匈牙利三十年改革历程回顾与启示

匈牙利是以原苏联为中心的社会主义阵营中最早实行经济体制改革的国家，它从1968年开始全面的经济体制改革，至今已走过了30年的改革历程。回顾匈牙利的改革史，其中有辉煌也有失败；有值得我们借鉴的宝贵经验，也有我们应该吸取的前车之鉴。匈牙利的经历与我国相似，原有的计划经济体制也大同小异。因此，从目标出发，认真分析研究匈牙利的改革措施，借鉴其成功经验和失误教训。无疑会对我国建设有中国特色的社会主义市场经济，推动国有企业资产重组的进程大有裨益。     

The Re-Integration of State Enterprises of the Former USSR

No abstract available for this article.     

The results of ‘mass privatization’in Romania: A first empirical study1

This paper provides an assessment of the contribution to privatization in Romania of the 1995-96 Mass Privatization Programme (MPP), which offered shares in nearly 5,000 companies to citizens in exchange for coupons. Analysing a comprehensive database of MPP companies, we find that an average of only 18.7 per cent of these companies' shares were actually transferred to Romanian citizens, and only 7.8 per cent of the companies were majority privatized (on a size-weighted basis). We estimate that the MPP accounted for only about 5.5 per cent of the value of state-owned enterprise assets inherited from the socialist period. The design of the programme created highly dispersed ownership structures, which is likely to generate particularly difficult problems in the many small companies in the programme. We place our findings in the context of the history of Romanian privatization policies since 1990, and provide some comparisons with mass privatization programmes in other countries. We also analyse the implications of the MPP for the corporate governance and the restructuring of enterprises.     

On privatization methods in Eastern Europe and their implications1

We have two goals in this paper. The first is to draw lessons from the privatization experiences in Eastern Europe so far, in particular with respect to the relation between alternative privatization methods, the evolution of ownership after privatization and restructuring. The second is to draw from these lessons to suggest ways in which remaining privatization programmes might be designed or improved, when political constraints and economic realities are taken into account.     

水务市场民营化:国际经验及启示

从水务市场政府规制的需求、规制框架、规制机构、规制法律方面对美、英、法三国的水务市场民营化进行比较分析。在此基础之上,提出我国要稳步推进公用事业民营化、民营化需要发挥政府规制的保障作用、坚持依法规制、实行水务一体化管理体制和加强水质管理及污染控制的政策建议。