Public Enterprises:Restructuring and Privatization

The structural adjustment programs that were developed to address the debt crises of the 1980s forced governments to finally recognize the great burden of maintaining state enterprises that were becoming increasingly costly. This volume of readings, drawing from a wide variety of sources including publications of government and multilateral organizations as well as private sources, throws useful light on the problem of restructuring and privatizing state enterprises, with special focus on approaches and experiences of developing countries. Drawing upon their extensive experience, each of the editors has prepared an introductory essay to provide a framework for the volume's collected readings. Mr Upper's essay is a clarifying summation of the issues and choices that are faced in a restructuring program; Mr Baldwin's essay provides a valuable historical context to the problem. The book then addresses, in a systematic fashion, the problem of privatization and restructuring, beginning with a discussion of the reasons for dissatisfaction with SOEs. It then provides a framework and methodology for evaluating the performance of SOEs and the welfare consequences of privatization. One of the book's great practical values lies in its Part III, a survey of a range of reform alternatives, including lease and management contracts, conversion of SOEs into independent corporate entities, establishing regulation of monopolies, and build-own-operate and build-own-transfer arrangements, among others. Case studies from all regions of the developing world are included in Part VI. Another eminently useful feature is a lexicon gathered from multiple sources.