Abstract
Privatization is now well established as a policy and practice throughout the world.1 In the United Kingdom, the value of privatized assets on the British stock exchange has reached over £100 billion in 1992,2 as much as 14 per cent of the share value of domestic companies.3 Privatization has included state corporations previously covering electricity, gas, water, airlines, airports, cars, steel, coal and telecommunications. Nonetheless, privatization has not been as all-conquering as its media hype might suggest. The World Bank (1995) has bemoaned the limited extent of privatization in developing countries and the lack of success where it has occurred. It has even confessed that its pressure for privatization may have been premature given the absence of the necessary political and economic preconditions for privatization to be adopted and to be successful.4
Thanks to John Sender for comments during drafting, and to participants in the COSATU Workshop for comments on a much larger study (Fine 1997a), from which this is in part drawn.
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Fine, B., Mavroudeas, S., Tsoulfidis, L. (1999). Privatization: Theory with Lessons from the United Kingdom. In: Vlachou, A. (eds) Contemporary Economic Theory. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-27714-8_2
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