Public Enterprise in Practice: The British Experience of Nationalisation during the Past Decade

Abstract

Public corporations and their subsidiaries now account for some 131/2 per cent of the UK’s gross domestic product. Several of the undertakings have only recently been transferred to the public sector (shipbuilding, airframe manufacture, British Leyland and water), and others are too small to warrant attention. This paper will discuss the performance of electricity, telephones, coal, British Rail and the other major nationalised industries which appear in Table 12.1. They contribute about 91/2 per cent of the GDP, whereas companies and unincorporated businesses are responsible for 61 per cent.

I have largely confined myself to the past decade partly because the previous period has already been covered in a number of studies and partly due to lack of space. The latter consideration also explains (a) the absence of references; (b) why there is no description of the way in which the productivity and price figures were calculated: (c) why the theoretical foundations on which my analysis rests have not been laid bare; and (d) the omission, except for where they were vital, of explanations, qualifications and supporting evidence.