Privatization Of Public Sector Activities

Contracting out public sector services and divesting public enterprises are reforms that have enjoyed widespread global popularity in recent years. Better services, lower prices and greater accountability are the promises made by politicians, senior executives, and investment companies when functions are moved from the public sector to private enterprise. But in Privatization, Graeme A. Hodge challenges these assumptions. Through an examination of hundreds of international studies on the performance of privatization activities, Hodge demonstrates that privatizing public services is often not the guaranteed panacea portrayed by its political supporters. Importantly, privatization activities can lead to modest gains, but there are also winners and losers in this reform. It therefore deserves far more care and balanced debate than it usually attracts.

This book suggests some of the ways in which levels of development shape public sector reform and privatization in developed and developing countries, showing that conservative as well as socialist governments were committed to increasing the state's guiding role in the political economy.

It is widely felt that the public sector in many developing countries is too large, and that privatisation would benefit both the users of individual services and the economy in general. However, enthusiasm for private enterprise solutions is not always matched by the requisite financial and economic technology. The sort of schemes appropriate for a country like China, with its highly planned public sector economy, and Jordan, with its dominant private sector, are unlikely to be the same. Privatisation without reference to these differences will be an economic, administrative and organisational chaos rather than a panacea. Originally published in 1989, this book starts with an analysis on the concept, rationale and fundamental issues of privatisation, with reference to both developed and developing countries. There follows a critical scrutiny of the privatisation programmes of countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America, written by contributors actively concerned with public enterprise and privatisation at the time. It examines the role of international aid agencies, including the World Bank, in promoting the schemes and it details the positive impact of them as well as their pitfalls. These country accounts are complemented by a concluding chapter giving an overview of the substantial issues raised.

State provision of public services and government management of the economy have been under relentless assault since the early 1980s. As this book shows in fascinating detail, privatization, commercialization and deregulation have become the watchwords of public sector reform worldwide. Brendan Martin charts this global phenomenon and its effects both on those working in the public sectors and on people dependent on public provision. Privatization and structural adjustment are not delivering better public services or improved economic prospects in the North or the South. What is needed, the author argues, is a new approach which transcends the outdated dichotomy of private versus public.

A useful volume for those interested in the development of privatization around the world. J. Prager, Choice This accessible book aims to inform readers interested in assessing privatization and market development concepts on a global scale, and outlines a range of thinking on how these policy ideas have moved around the globe. Bringing together an international team of contributors, the book traces how privatization concepts have grown in application, and how they have spread to become a central policy idea for governments. And whilst interest in the initial policy of selling-off state owned enterprises has peaked, the contracting and partnership modes of privatization have risen to global prominence. This book also reflects on the importance of the privatization family of ideas on both developed and developing countries. Privatization and Market Development will be of great interest to those involved in public administration and public policy making from a global perspective.