Privatization and equity

Privatization, as with any economic policy, creates gainers and losers. Increasingly, governments - particularly those in developing countries - are coming to realize that privatization can have a very severe economic impact and raise problems of equity. Yet remedial actions are often inadequate and unsystematic. In Privatization and Equity, the authors look at some of the problems brought about by the change to private ownership. The book provides an overall analysis of the issues concerning the impacts of privatization on equity. The authors first identify and examine the means through which privatization may have an unfair effect on some sectors, from new market structures to foreign ownership and operating policies. Second, they discuss the interrelationships between privatization and the national economic parameters, which, apart from the profits raised by privatized enterprises, imply many equity considerations. Third, they highlight the consequences for privatization of disregarding these effects, from reversal of policy to problems of credibility in public perception. These issues are explored across a broad range of developing countries by contributors who have a wide experience of privatization. They include policy makers, professionals and academics from both the developed and developing world.