Property rights and privatization

Abstract

One of the pillars of the current sentiment for comprehensive economic and other reforms in Eastern Europe is privatization. This is usually lumped together with property rights reform, although the two may be quite distinct. With some vengeance, not coincidentally, of course, this debate has taken on the obverse character of the role played by nationalization and the formation of state property at the beginning of the socialization process. The protracted discussions about ownership in PETs indicate that the multiple, at times intractable, issues involved are currently seen as an inalienable component of property rights’ reform, which has several dimensions. It is an unalienable component of what policies in PETs are all about (see Chapter 8).