By Luka Oreskovic Eight years ago, an enthusiastic crowd gathered in front of the Tbilisi parliament for Mikheil Saakashvili’s presidential inauguration. “We must create the Georgia that our ancestors dreamed of,” he told them, “the Georgia that we dream of.” His dream was that of a democratic, NATO member country with a growing liberalized economy, low corruption and high living standards. Since then, President… Read More
Cuba Puts Brakes on Move toward Non-State Economy
In April Cuban government officials announced plans to move about 40 percent of the country’s output to the nonstate sector in five years.  This followed a move two years ago to lay off employees in state owned enterprises and encourage them to become entrepreneurs, operating their own businesses.  Over 250,000 Cubans took advantage of this… Read More
Greece to Raise €50 billion by 2015 via Privatization
Greek government aims to raise €50 billion by 2015 via privatization—or 1/6th of its estimated 2011 $308 billion GDP (40% is public sector).  Caught between the European financing bailout requirements, the general concerns of Greek citizens about losing their country’s treasured assets and the specific concerns of more well paid and unionized employees of state… Read More
Vietnam Privatization Slowed by Book Value vs. Market Value Rule
The Ministry of Finance in Vietnam plans to privatize 367 state-owned enterprises by 2015 (as many as 93 SOEs this year).  The privatization process is slower than hoped because of  the government’s rule that  SOEs cannot sell stakes to investors  at prices below the SOE’s book value.  Government officals are asked to consider allowing… Read More
Source and Use of the Term: Privatization
The Economist magazine introduced the term “privatization”  in the 1930s in its coverage of  Nazi German economic policy. Voucher privatization has mainly occurred in the transition economies of Central and Eastern Europe, such as Russia, Poland, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia. Additionally, Privatization from below is/has been an important type of economic growth in transition… Read More
Water for Life – Privatization & Regulation Reduce Child Mortality in Argentina
The experience of Argentinian municipalities in the 1990’s offer lessons for the benefits of privatizing water local government  supplies.  Some municipalities privatized and others did not, yielding a comparison of results.  Those municipalities that privatized the water delivery systems found a greater reduction in child mortality.  Studies suggest that the combination of privatization and effective… Read More
Write for Asset Stewardship
The Asset Stewardship team welcomes thoughtful, data driven articles, analysis and case studies on topics pertaining to asset stewardship. Â Themes include nationalization, privatization, public-private partnerships, privatizing municipal services and charter schools. Â We plan to gather materials and serve as a resource to those interested in these topics. If you are interested in submitting an article,… Read More
Revisiting Privatization, Now is the Time
Background Over the past two decades, the privatization of state enterprises has gone from novelty act to global orthodoxy. More than 100 governments have sold stakes in state companies to private investors, raising $1 trillion and transforming the state’s economic role. Just as privatization’s promise may have been oversold, so its ills have been exaggerated.… Read More