Privatisation

Stevens, Jim (1984) Privatisation. Quarterly Economic Commentary, 10 (1). pp. 66-68. ISSN 0306-7866

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    Abstract

    For many politicians and academic commentators privatisation has implications reaching far beyond the mere transfer of ownership. Conservative governments have in the past introduced denationalisation programmes although never on the present grand scale. As Simpson (1984) and others have pointed out, the Government and its supporters often fail to distinguish between the effects of denationalisation and the benefits of liberalisation. It is a widely held view that nationalised industries are less efficient than private companies. Although Heald & Steel (1982) are doubtful about this proposition the essence of their argument can be summarised as follows: "public enterprises are intrinsically less efficient than private enterprises because they are insulated from the disciplines of the capital and product markets" (p.339). It is at this point that the distinction between liberalisation and denationalisation must be drawn and this economic perspective will attempt to delineate the reasons why.

    Author(s):Stevens, Jim ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6035-1580
    Item type:Article
    ID code:51653
    Keywords:privatisation, liberalisation, denationalisation, British economy, public enterprise, private enterprise, Economic Theory, Industries. Land use. Labor, Economics, Econometrics and Finance(all)
    Subjects:Social Sciences > Economic Theory
    Social Sciences > Industries. Land use. Labor
    Department:Strathclyde Business School > Economics
    Strathclyde Business School > Fraser of Allander Institute
    Depositing user: Pure Administrator
    Date deposited:13 Feb 2015 14:27
    Last modified:04 Oct 2019 01:57
    Related URLs:
    URI:https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/id/eprint/51653
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