Privatizations around the world: economic or political determinants?

Abstract

The article examines economic, political, and institutional determinants of privatization using a panel of 50 countries over the period of 1988-2006. Our sample includes developed, developing, and transition economies. Privatization activity is measured by the number of privatization deals as well as the revenue raised and analyzed using the negative binomial regression and Tobit regression respectively. Although more privatization activity is usually taking place in countries displaying satisfactory economic performance in some respect, the role of economic factors turns out to be limited. The results identify a number of political and institutional determinants but some effects are specific to a particular type of economy. For example, in developing countries, right-wing governments are associated with privatizations while new, not necessarily right-wing governments, are behind privatization in Eastern Europe. The role of financial development is also varied, with sound financial institutions related to successful privatization in developed and developing countries but not in transition economies.

Partisan politics: The empirical evidence from OECD panel studies

“…Bortolotti et al (2004) also examine whether government ideology predicted privatization in 34 developed and developing countries. Roberts and Saeed (2012) analyze the determinants of privatization in 50 countries over the period [1988][1989][1990][1991][1992][1993][1994][1995][1996][1997][1998][1999][2000][2001][2002][2003][2004][2005][2006]. Privatization is measured by the number of privatization deals and privatization revenues.…”

Power Sector Reforms and Technical Performance: Good News from an Instrumental Variable Analysis

“…We include the logarithms of GDP per capita (USD, constant year 2000 prices) and population. According to previous research, wealthy countries with high levels of economic development are less likely to feel the need to reform and/or privatize their power sectors because they usually have stronger electricity generation power (Roberts & Saeed, 2012). At the same time, large countries naturally have more generation capacity but may find it more difficult to implement reforms due to administrative challenges.…”

The limits of inequality: Public support for social policy across rich democracies

“…However, this trend has reversed since the 1970s (OECD, 2008;Piketty, 2014). Although globalisation and financialisation are partly to blame, retrenchments in various social welfare state policies are also a cause (Hall & Thelen, 2009;Pierson, 2002;Roberts & Saeed, 2012). Governments have reduced public services, employment protection, education and pensions (DiPrete & Eirich, 2006;Kwon, 2016;Leibfried & Mau, 2008;Lewis, 2001;Obinger, Schmitt, & Zohlnhöfer, 2014), which has resulted in wealth inequality, health inequality and poverty increases (Beckfield et al, 2015;Pickett & Wilkinson, 2015).…”