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Privatization in Poland What was the government trying to achieve?1

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  • Gianni De Fraja
  • Barbara M. Roberts

Abstract

This article uses the sequencing of privatization to infer the objective pursued by the Polish government in the privatization of its large manufacturing firms in the second half of the 1990s. We construct a model of mixed oligopoly and use it to evaluate the privatization process; our analysis is based on the assumption that firms which furthered the government's objective function the most would be chosen to be privatized first. Based on the features of the firms that were chosen for early privatization, our empirical analysis suggests that welfare maximization was more important than the desire to maximize the revenues from privatization and the government's budget or to minimize employment losses.

Suggested Citation

  • Gianni De Fraja & Barbara M. Roberts, 2009. "Privatization in Poland What was the government trying to achieve?1," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 17(3), pages 531-557, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:etrans:v:17:y:2009:i:3:p:531-557
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-0351.2009.00356.x
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    Cited by:

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    2. Aguilera, Ruth V. & Kabbach de Castro, Luiz Ricardo & Lee, Jun Ho & You, Jihae, 2011. "Corporate Governance in Emerging Markets," Working Papers 11-0104, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, College of Business.
    3. Ádám Szentpéteri & Álmos Telegdy, 2010. "Political Selection Of Firms Into Privatization Programs. Evidence From Romanian Comprehensive Data," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(3), pages 298-328, November.
    4. Fink, Carsten & Mattoo, Aaditya & Rathindran, Randeep, 2003. "An assessment of telecommunications reform in developing countries," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 15(4), pages 443-466, December.
    5. Hsu, Su-Ying & Lo, Chu-Ping & Wu, Shih-Jye, 2014. "The nexus of market concentration and privatization policy in mixed oligopoly," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 196-203.
    6. Jun Du & Xiaoxuan Liu, 2015. "Selection, Staging and Sequencing in the Recent Chinese Privatization," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 58(3).
    7. Adam Szentpeteri & Almos Telegdy, 2009. "Political Objectives and Privatization Decisions - Selection of Firms into Privatization or Long-Term State Ownership in Romania," CERS-IE WORKING PAPERS 0926, Institute of Economics, Centre for Economic and Regional Studies.
    8. Niklas Potrafke, 2010. "Labor market deregulation and globalization: empirical evidence from OECD countries," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 146(3), pages 545-571, September.
    9. Christian Bjørnskov & Niklas Potrafke, 2011. "Politics and privatization in Central and Eastern Europe," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 19(2), pages 201-230, April.
    10. Yongfu Liang & Leonard F. S. Wang & Yapo Yang, 2023. "What role should public firms play in the upstream market?," International Journal of Economic Theory, The International Society for Economic Theory, vol. 19(1), pages 101-117, March.
    11. Gupta, Nandini & Ham, Jhon C. & Svejnar, Jan, 2008. "Priorities and sequencing in privatization: Evidence from Czech firm panel data," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 52(2), pages 183-208, February.

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    JEL classification:

    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy

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