Between State and Market: Mass Privatization in Transition Economies

Description

Most of the papers in Parts 1 through 5 of this volume were presented at the tenth OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) Advisory Group on Privatization meeting. Parts 1 through 5 cover a diverse set of challenges to mass privatization programs in the formerly socialist nations. The papers also show their experience in: institutions of capitalism, establishment and enforcement of property rights, reforming the public sector, and the state ' s role in these affairs. A comparative analysis of mass privatization suggests that the removal of enterprises from state control and the establishment of private cash flows are shaped by countries institutional endowments and by the state ' s capacity to balance competing interests, manage social conflicts, and distribute the costs and benefits of reform. Actual implementation of voucher-based privatization schemes requires that equal attention be paid to the problem of commercializing enterprises as to the problem of ensuring adequate public participation. The result of mass privatization show that there is no necessary end point to the process, where a private sector will be clearly separated from the state. In many cases, there is still government intervention. Also, the experience of mass privatization illustrates the problems of corporative finance and governance. Part 6 consists of studies of fifteen countries experiments with mass privatization