Reforming Infrastructure

Reforming Infrastructure
Author: Ioannis Nicolaos Kessides
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 328
Release: 2004
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN:

Electricity, natural gas, telecommunications, railways, and water supply, are often vertically and horizontally integrated state monopolies. This results in weak services, especially in developing and transition economies, and for poor people. Common problems include low productivity, high costs, bad quality, insufficient revenue, and investment shortfalls. Many countries over the past two decades have restructured, privatized and regulated their infrastructure. This report identifies the challenges involved in this massive policy redirection. It also assesses the outcomes of these changes, as well as their distributional consequences for poor households and other disadvantaged groups. It recommends directions for future reforms and research to improve infrastructure performance, identifying pricing policies that strike a balance between economic efficiency and social equity, suggesting rules governing access to bottleneck infrastructure facilities, and proposing ways to increase poor people's access to these crucial services.

Privatization in Latin America

Privatization in Latin America
Author: World Bank
Publisher: World Bank
Total Pages: 506
Release: 2005
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780821358825

This publication examines the empirical evidence on the privatisation measures introduced in the Latin American region since the 1980s, in light of recent criticisms of the record of privatisation and allegations of corruption, abuse of market power and neglect of the poor. It includes case studies on the privatisation debate in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru; and sets out recommendations for future reforms.

Privatization in Eastern Europe

Privatization in Eastern Europe
Author: Roman Frydman
Publisher: Central European University Press
Total Pages: 239
Release: 1994-01-01
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9633864917

In Eastern Europe privatization is now a mass phenomenon. The authors propose a model of it by means of an illustration from the example of Poland, which envisages the free provision of shares in formerly public undertakings to employees and consumers, and the provision of corporate finance from foreign intermediaries. One danger that emerges is that of bureaucratization. On the broader canvas, mass privatization implies the reform of the whole system, the creation of a suitable economic infrastructure for a market economy and the institutions of corporate governance. The authors point out the need for a delicate balance between evolution - which may be too slow - and design - which brings the risk of more government involvement than it is able to manage. A chapter originating as a European Bank working paper explores the banking implications of setting up a totally new financial sector with interlocking classes of assets. The economic effects merge into politics as the role of the state is investigated. Teachers and graduate students of public/private sector economies, East European affairs; advisers to bankers or commercial companies with Eastern European interests.

Labor Issues in Infrastructure Reform

Labor Issues in Infrastructure Reform
Author: Public-Private Infrastructure Advisory Facility
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 224
Release: 2004
Genre: Law
ISBN: 9780821354704

Fears of job loss and changes in employment status have often led workers and unions to oppose privatization and to take actions that delay or block reforms. Many developing country governments have been reluctant to undertake reforms because of labor opposition and the political costs involved. Such difficulties are often compounded by concerns about the social impact of reforms, particularly in countries where social safety nets and labor markets are lacking. The objective of the Toolkit, which includes a CD-ROM, is to provide practical tools and information to help policy makers and practitioners deal with these sensitive issues. The Toolkit helps governments identify and select appropriate strategies and approaches, offers guidelines for design and implementation based on best practice and actual experience, and indicates the factors influencing the choice of strategy and options. The Toolkit is illustrated with examples, checklists, and templates that walk decision makers through best practice methodologies.

Limits to Privatization

Limits to Privatization
Author: Marianne Beishem
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 430
Release: 2012-04-27
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1136562249

Limits to Privatization is the first thorough audit of privatizations from around the world. It outlines the historical emergence of globalization and liberalization, and from analyses of over 50 case studies of best- and worst-case experiences of privatization, it provides guidance for policy and action that will restore and maintain the right balance between the powers and responsibilities of the state, the private sector and the increasingly important role of civil society. The result is a book of major importance that challenges one of the orthodoxies of our day and provides a benchmark for future debate.

The Great Divestiture

The Great Divestiture
Author: Massimo Florio
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 452
Release: 2004
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780262062404

Using the tools of social cost-benefit analysis, Florio assesses the effect of privatization on consumers, taxpayers, firms, shareholders, and workers.

Annual World Bank Conference on Development Economics Regional 2007

Annual World Bank Conference on Development Economics Regional 2007
Author: François Bourguignon
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 386
Release: 2007-01-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0821368443

Global Development Finance (GDF), is the World Bank's annual review of recent trends in and prospects for financial flows to developing countries. It is an indispensable resource for governments, economists, investors, financial consultants, academics, bankers, and the entire development community. Vol I: Analysis and Outlook reviews recent trends in financial flows to developing countries. Also available as a two volume set, Vol II. Summary and Country Tables* includes comprehensive data for 138 countries, as well as summary data for regions and income groups.

Privatizing Social Security

Privatizing Social Security
Author: Martin Feldstein
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 484
Release: 2008-04-15
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0226241823

This volume represents the most important work to date on one of the pressing policy issues of the moment: the privatization of social security. Although social security is facing enormous fiscal pressure in the face of an aging population, there has been relatively little published on the fundamentals of essential reform through privatization. Privatizing Social Security fills this void by studying the methods and problems involved in shifting from the current system to one based on mandatory saving in individual accounts. "Timely and important. . . . [Privatizing Social Security] presents a forceful case for a radical shift from the existing unfunded, pay-as-you-go single national program to a mandatory funded program with individual savings accounts. . . . An extensive analysis of how a privatized plan would work in the United States is supplemented with the experiences of five other countries that have privatized plans." —Library Journal "[A] high-powered collection of essays by top experts in the field."—Timothy Taylor, Public Interest

The Financial Economics of Privatization

The Financial Economics of Privatization
Author: William L. Megginson
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 533
Release: 2005-01-13
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0198034318

Since 1981, over 100 governments around the world have raised over $1 trillion through the sale of SOEs to private investors. Privatization programs have transformed the role of the state in virtually all-major economies, and have massively increased the capitalization and liquidity of all non-U.S. stock markets. The focus of this book lies on where privatization stands today and what are the next frontiers, the why and how behind countries who privatize certain industries, whether privatization works as an economic tool and important insights relevant to financial institutions such as how to value privatized industries, how share offerings differ from private offerings, and how countries go about harnessing private capital. The book will also represent a key and unique source for information related to the details of asset sales privatization, a summary of statistics of privatized companies from 54 international stock exchanges, regulatory changes and sources for privatization information for investors, government officials, bankers and financial specialists. The volume will serve as an invaluable reference for professionals and as a core or supplementary text in privatization courses.