The Pulitzer Prize-wimming author of The Prize joins a leading expert on the global economy to present an incisive narrative of the risks and opportunities that are emerging as the balance of power shifts around the world between governments and markets -- and the battle over globalization comes front and center. The Commanding Heights is essential for understanding the struggle over the "new rules of the game" for the twenty-first century.

During the last decade, privatization, understood here as the transfer of state-owned enterprises to the private sector, has become a widespread phenomenon among formerly socialist and mixed economies. It has been touted as a quick route to growth and prosperity in countries suffering from bloated, inefficient, and debt ridden public sectors. The contributors to this book, drawn from a number of social science disciplines, explore the various ways in which privatization programs affect workers in the reforming countries. The book includes an examination of how privatization impacts on labor economically, by changing the level and conditions of employment, as well as its influence on wages, benefits, and social services. A second section looks at the political effects of privatization on workers, focusing on the strength and militancy of trade unions and their relationship to political parties. The essays, written by scholars as well as policy practitioners, cover both post-socialist countries, including Russia, China, and Eastern Europe, and the developing regions - the Middle East, sub-Saharan Africa, and Latin America. Scholars and students in economics and political science as well as policymakers will find this collection a welcome addition to the literature on privatization.

Our economies face constant challenges from many different directions. Structural reforms are implemented every day, either to grasp the benefits of globalization and technological change, or to avoid foundering on unaffordable welfare systems or the rise of new economies. Despite this flurry of reforms, many of their effects are insufficiently understood. What makes reforms a success or a failure? Why do we witness systematically ambivalent attitudes to reforms? Can governments implement reforms differently, without inflicting prejudice to large fringes of the population? This book explores these issues by comparing a number of reforms, across a large set of countries and sectors. First, through an innovative multisectorial input-output analysis, the authors compare the effects of liberalisation reforms in the telecommunication and electricity sectors across Europe. Surprisingly, they find that very similar and well-intended reforms can generate highly contrasted outcomes. It is also shown that governments must consider the effects of each reform on all sectors of the economy. Second, the authors explore how governments can tailor their reform strategy to alter the redistributive effects of reforms. They show that the government's approach to reforms has been very different across time and across countries. A government's approach depends on local institutions, on the nature of the opposition, and on the scope of the reform under way. The authors, however, show that governments do have alternatives. Often, there are ways to tailor reforms so as to protect specific parts of the population; and there are ways to experiment gradually, to avoid costly policy mistakes.

Clemens Schutte analyses the emergence of corporate control structures in the Czech privatization process. The book depicts the basic features of the Czech system of corporate control and the direction of its transformation. This is an extremely relevant subject since the Czech privatization process is a model case in several respects: it is institutionally open and hence allows for spontaneous development; and privatization has been carried out comprehensively and rapidly. Based upon a theoretical analysis of the institutional cornerstones of corporate control, the book develops clear recommendations which are subsequently used as a benchmark to assess the performance of the evolving Czech system of corporate control.The book discusses the role of the most important players in corporate control including the big bank-centred financial groups, capital markets, the board model of Czech corporations and the institutional base of debt control and minority shareholder protection. It also reveals the conflict of political intentions and real-time developments. As an important and timely contribution, this book will be invaluable reading for all those involved, or interested, in the privatization and corporate control of other Central and Eastern European countries. Those working in financial and political institutions will also find this book valuable.

This important book provides a comprehensive analysis of the impact of privatization on the economic performance of companies in Central and Eastern Europe. It sheds new light on the achievements and shortcomings of the privatization process and draws out lessons for the future. After considering the theoretical issues surrounding privatization, the authors provide an in-depth examination of corporate governance and company performance in advanced market economies as well as transition economies. They begin with a description of the main principles, techniques and results of privatization in Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary and Poland. A statistical and econometric analysis of extensive company-level data and interviews from a large number of firms between 1990 and 1997 is then conducted to discover the main factors in changing economic performance. Using this information the authors compare the transformation of the company sectors in the four countries, and in addition assess company restructuring from the perspective of West European privatizations. Privatization and Economic Performance in Central Eastern Europe will be of interest to policymakers in governments and international organizations and those working in the fields of microeconomics, industrial organization and transition studies.

This book provides a comparative study of the telecommunication reform process in three Central American countries - Costa Rica, Guatemala and Honduras - focusing on the roles of the local private sector and international financial institutions. By addressing the following questions, the book aims to understand the potential for the emergence of an autonomous and inclusive regulatory state: * What has been the main driving force behind the wave of privatizations in Latin America? * What has been the role of the international financial institutions (IFIs)? * What kind of state emerges after privatization and regulatory reform? * Why does privatization remain so unpopular? The author discusses the historical role of telecommunications in state power, the sources of proposed, failed and implemented reforms, and the political processes determining their destiny. Benedicte Bull concludes that the reform processes in the three countries show significant variation. This is accounted for - not by the different relationship to the IFIs, but by the different relationships between the state and the private sector. The impact of this on the reform process is also the key to understanding the state's capacity for post-reform regulation and the unpopularity of privatization. Academics and students with an interest in Latin American studies, international political economy, comparative politics and development studies will find this book of great appeal.

Network industries such as electricity, gas, rail, local public transport, telecommunications and postal services are recognised by the EU as crucial for fostering European social and territorial cohesion. Providing an overview of key policy reforms in these industries and an empirical evaluation, this thought-provoking book offers a critical perspective on the functioning of the networks that provide vital services to EU citizens. Key features include: analysis of policy reforms and their effects on the welfare of citizens as users an innovative focus on the neglected topic of the role of state-owned or state-invested enterprises assessment of changes in policy framework reform from the consumer's point of view a comparative country analysis evaluation of cross-cutting issues related to reform including privatisation, unbundling, performance and impact. The Reform of Network Industries will appeal to academic researchers in the fields of industrial economics, policy and regulation and the economics of European integration, as well as students of business and law. Policymakers, regulators and public administrators will also find this book a stimulating read. Contributors include: P. Bance, R. Cardinale, P. Castelnovo, A. Chassy, S. Clo, A. Cosic, L. Diestelmeier, J. Doleschel, S. Drufuca, G. Esposito, M. Florio, S. Groenblom, R. Hirsch, T. Holvad, T. Kaloud, M. Lampropoulou, A. Maxim, A. Negrelli, T.A. Nguyen, N. Rosetto, A. Roukouni, R.P. Sanchez, S. Thomas, J. Urban-Kozlowska, J. Willner

From 1997 to 2001, more than 4,000 privatization operations have been carried out in more than 100 countries, bringing in government revenues of over 1,362 billion dollars. The phenomenon, which grew exponentially at the end of the 1990s and then abruptly slowed down, had dramatic consequences on the performance of state-owned enterprises and a significant impact on industrialized countries, as well as emerging and less developed economies. Yet there have been surprisingly few attempts to provide a systematic empirical account of the privatization process at the worldwide level. Why do governments privatize? Why do some countries accomplish large-scale privatization programmes, and others never privatize at all? Is privatization a trend or a cycle? Furthermore, how do governments privatize? Do governments really transfer ownership and control of state-owned enterprises or does private ownership tend to coexist with public control? This book provides some answers to these important questions trying to test research hypotheses set forth by the recent economic theory of privatization. Comprehensive cross-country empirical analyses carried out over a period of more than twenty years are used in the book to show that privatization has taken place all over the world, sometimes spontaneously, more often under the pressure of economic and budgetary constraints. Several of the goals of the privatization have been met, but despite proclamations and programmes, only a small minority of countries has carried out a genuine privatization process, completely transferring ownership of state-owned enterprises to the private sector. A lack of political will is to some extent at the root of this reluctance. However this reluctance can be traced back partly to structural factors that would make an orderly privatization difficult, such as the absence of developed capital markets, appropriate regulation, and suitable institutions.

Lyall and Sell have opened a candid public policy discussion about the future of public universities. This is the only book-length treatment of public higher education finance at the beginning of the 21st century that looks comprehensively at state experiments and dilemmas, and attempts to envision possible future paths. Lyall and Sell describe market forces that are eroding the traditional partnership between states and public universities. By outlining how the search for new revenue sources is refocusing the basic goals of public universities, the authors clarify what has gone wrong_and what can be done to save these valuable American institutions.

This is Volume II of Professor Parker's authoritative Official History of Privatisation, covering the period from the re-election of Margaret Thatcher in 1987 to the election of Tony Blair in 1997. Volume II considers in detail several of the major privatisations, including those of airports, steel, water, electricity, coal and the railways, as well as a number of smaller ones. Each privatisation involved major challenges in terms of industrial restructuring, organising successful sales and, in a number of cases, establishing effective regulatory regimes. The policy evolved and new methods of selling and regulating were put in place that enabled further disposals to occur. Monolithic nationalised industries with their emphasis on the benefits of economies of scale, vertical integration and rationalisation, were replaced by industrial structures rooted in the importance of commercial management, risk taking and competition. In government departments and parts of the National Health Service, direct employees were replaced by private contractors, and private investment became a characteristic of public infrastructure in the form of PFI/PPP schemes. This study draws heavily on the official records of the British government, to which the author was given full access and on interviews with the leading figures involved in each of the privatisations, including ex-ministers, civil servants, business and City figures, as well as academics that have studied the subject. This book will of great interest to students of privatisation, British political history and of business and economics in general.

In this special issue, leading neuroscientists and neurologists present comprehensive review papers and empirical studies on the topic of the neural basis of self-identification. From philosophical definitions to single-case studies, the articles provide the reader with a broad view of the self in contemporary neuroscience. Review papers address the fundamental question of how to define and study the construct of identity. Methods in empirical studies range from socio-linguistic analyses to neuroimaging and diverse patient populations. As a whole, this issue provides a diverse sample of the myriad of ways in which identity is defined and studied in contemporary neuroscience.

Traces the accelerating trend towards privatization in the criminal justice system In contrast to government's predominant role in criminal justice today, for many centuries crime control was almost entirely private and community-based. Government police forces, prosecutors, courts, and prisons are all recent historical developments-results of a political and bureaucratic social experiment which, Bruce Benson argues, neither protects the innocent nor dispenses justice. In this comprehensive and timely book, Benson analyzes the accelerating trend toward privatization in the criminal justice system. In so doing, To Serve and Protect challenges and transcends both liberal and conservative policies that have supported government's pervasive role. With lucidity and rigor, he examines the gamut of private-sector input to criminal justice-from private-sector outsourcing of prisons and corrections, security, arbitration to full "private justice" such as business and community-imposed sanctions and citizen crime prevention. Searching for the most cost-effective methods of reducing crime and protecting civil liberties, Benson weighs the benefits and liabilities of various levels of privatization, offering correctives for the current gridlock that will make criminal justice truly accountable to the citizenry and will simultaneously result in reductions in the unchecked power of government.

Advances in Financial Economics publishes peer reviewed quality manuscripts on any aspects of financial economics including corporate finance, financial institutions and markets and microeconomics.

Over the past decade India has been undertaking a program of economic reform, and at the same time the economy has been growing at a high rate. As part of the reform program, and in line with prevailing economic thinking, India has been privatizing its large, ungainly public sector. One assumption underlying this program is the dogma that public sector enterprises are doomed to inefficiency, and that competitive market forces can be relied on to make firms more efficient once they are privatized. But is this really true?
Combining rigorous data analysis with case studies to provide a balanced evaluation of the process of deregulation and privatization within the overall context of economic reforms, the author demonstrates, remarkably, that, contrary to the prevailing view, private sector firms do not outperform public sector firms across all sectors. He also shows that revenue-raising considerations have weighed more heavily with the government than efficiency objectives. Overall, this study of the reform process in India, with its unique longstanding mix of private and public sectors, will be of great interest to all those studying reform and transition worldwide.

The transformation of public ports into commercially orientated and profitable entities is occurring apace in the Asia-Pacific region. This timely book is the first to take a regional perspective on port reform and port privatisation. A range of countries are examined, including China, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand.The book's contributors are academic specialists in the fields of port economics and management, whose country studies illustrate a variety of port privatisation methods and outcomes in an economically, politically and culturally diverse region connected by extensive maritime trade networks. Significantly, the book concludes that privatisation of ports is an important but far from universal approach to reforming the region's ports. Focusing exclusively on port privatisation in the Asia-Pacific region, this book will be of great interest to academics and policymakers who are interested in port reform, together with those interested in privatisation more generally in the Asia-Pacific region.

Privatization and Economic Efficiency assesses the economic content of many of the beliefs surrounding privatization. It develops a new and novel inter-disciplinary approach linking economic and organizational dimensions.A series of case studies examines the theory, evidence and policy experience of privatization in developed and developing nations. These studies focus on the UK, US, Egypt and Jamaica. The book concludes that privatization is an appealingly simple phrase concealing many difficulties and problems for analysts, researchers and policymakers.

Privatization and Entrepreneurship: The Managerial Challenge in Central and Eastern Europe analyzes the challenges faced by managers in the transforming economies of Central and Eastern Europe and provides penetrating insights into the details of managing in the former socialist countries. This collection's combination of conceptual/theoretical material with empirical, firsthand case analysis prepares Western managers for a more profitable and less stressful entry into these significant markets.This enlightening book highlights the complexity and breadth of the issues and problems of successfully entering new markets in Central and Eastern Europe. Along the way, you are introduced to such topics as consumer behavior and shown the different forms of foreign direct investment with their associated problems and benefits. If you are searching for ways to better prepare for business in these markets, this book can help you meet your objectives with its helpful information on: ethical concerns and linguistic difficulties of managing in transforming economies management challenges of privatization management challenges of entrepreneurship strategic issues associated with the reorientation of enterprises corporate constituencies, changing consumers, labor unions, and pay practicesPrivatization and Entrepreneurship will prove valuable to policymakers in economic development and foreign aid agencies, executives of companies planning to expand into Europe and those already active in the region, and academicians and students in management, economics, and political science.

This title is the first in the Critical Perspectives on the World Economy series. With a new introduction by the editors it brings together the most significant contributions on privatization including material on the philosophical and historical context.
Specific subjects covered include:
* regulation and competition policy
* different forms and techniques of privatization
* the impact of privatization.
Drawing on an enormous range of sources, the collection includes material by Hayek, Harold Demsetz, Douglass North, Janos Kornai, Jean Tirole and Jeffrey Sachs. It is an indispensible reference for policy makers, as well as academics concerned with economic policy and public economics.

In many parts of the world, public enterprise is in crisis. Privatization programs are being widely promoted as the solution to many of the problems of inefficiency and slow rates of growth associated with public enterprise. This book discusses the underlying causes of those problems, and critically examines some of the solutions that have been adopted.
"Public Enterprise at the Crossroads" has a wide geographical scope and cuts across the political spectrum. The experiences of countries in four continents are analyzed, with explorations of current problems. The contributors find recurrent patterns; problems are often found to be political as well as economic, and bureaucracy and administrative confusion are seen as a major cause of poor financial performance. Yet since political aims, the economic environment, and administrative and managerial capacities vary so widely, universal solutions remain more difficult to define than universal problems.

The late Honourable Michael Wilson was a Canadian politician and business professional. As Minister of Finance under Brian Mulroney, Wilson was one of the key negotiators of the Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement - one of Canada's most important economic agreements in the last 50 years, later superseded by NAFTA. In addition, Wilson was responsible for implementing the controversial Goods and Services Tax (GST), which remains key to the federal government today. After his life in Parliament, Wilson served as Ambassador to the United States and Chancellor of the University of Toronto. Outside of politics, Wilson was active in raising awareness of mental health issues following the traumatic loss of his son, Cameron, to suicide. Devoting considerable time to advocacy, he established the Cameron Parker Holcombe Wilson Chair in Depression Studies at the University of Toronto and served as Board Chair for the Mental Health Commission of Canada. Something within Me highlights how Wilson's personal life blended with his political life and accomplishments, detailing his advocacy for mental health awareness as well his involvement in important pieces of legislation that made significant impacts in Canadian political and economic history. These deeply personal stories, particularly those of a father grappling with his son's illness and death, remind us of the lives behind the political personas that shape our world.

This volume explores current research in public relations and communication management, and in particular examines how public relations can have a positive impact on the well being of its publics. One of the biggest competitive advantages in today's business world are positive and engaged publics, because satisfied participants are at the core of any successful relationship. The success of relationships with publics is mostly based on how people are valued and treated, which in turn affects their self-perceptions and level of performance. Both of these elements are correlated with life happiness. Thus, strategic communication should be used for cultivating a positive environment and for fostering happiness and joy among their publics. This can help improve both organizational success and the well-being of people. This book will be essential reading for researchers in marketing and communications, as well as practitioners who wish to understand how PR and Communication Management can positively impact the well-being of organizations and the wider community.

In recent decades, privatisation has been a key policy instrument in the move to more market-based economic systems in all parts of the developing world. Privatisation, however, has not necessarily been accompanied by an increase in market competition. In recent years, many public utilities have been privatised as monopolies and in addition regulatory systems have been developed to restrict their market power and protect the interests of consumers. These authoritative volumes bring together a collection of important papers that have shed new theoretical and empirical insights into privatisation and regulation and have provided new policy perspectives in relation to developing countries. Privatisation in Developing Countries will appeal to policymakers and researchers at the forefront of economic policy debates in developing countries.

Regulatory economics has become increasingly important over the last quarter of a century, in part as a result of the wave of privatization, starting in the UK, which made the regulation of monopoly of much greater interest. The discipline has also become more rigorous, increasingly employing powerful analytical and econometric methods. This volume brings together some of the leading contributions to the literature on privatization and regulation. The book is an invaluable resource for scholars, policymakers and regulators in the study of privatization and regulation.

This provocative report examines the trend toward competitive contracting of government functions. By focusing on four jurisdictions that hired private firms to handle welfare-to-work services, The Welfare Marketplace reveals the ways in which increased contracting with the private and nonprofit sectors is changing the role and capacity of government, threatening accountability and responsiveness to groups with special needs. Encouraging improved performance through market mechanisms creates particular challenges for the nonprofits who must balance their missions with the bottom line. The organization of service delivery to welfare clients has undergone significant restructuring as a result of the 1996 Welfare Reform Act, which encouraged states to contract with outside companies and for the first time allowed them to determine eligibility for welfare benefits. Seeking to assess the impact of this development, M. Bryna Sanger studied the competitive contract environment in San Diego, Milwaukee, New York, and Houston. Interviewing contracters, public officials, opinion leaders, and researchers revealed the comparative advantages of a variety of key players in the multi-sector service industry. Sanger's conclusions paint a complex picture of how competitive contracting arrangements have changed the ways vendors and government agencies serve their clients. While performance and innovation have improved in some cases, all the players are finding that adequate accountability and contract monitoring are more difficult and expensive than anticipated. Both for profits and nonprofits are quickly draining talent and capacity as they compete for experienced executives from government and from each other. Sanger argues that competitive contracting is here to stay, but it will require more -not less -government management and oversight. She urges scholars and practitioners to develop a more nuanced and sophisticated set of expectations about the costs and benefits of increased market arrangements for service delivery, especially when serving vulnerable populations.