IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/soinre/v139y2018i1d10.1007_s11205-017-1713-2.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Socioeconomic Consequences of Privatization: An Empirical Analysis for Europe

Author

Listed:
  • Beatriz Cuadrado-Ballesteros

    (University of Salamanca)

  • Noemí Peña-Miguel

    (University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU))

Abstract

This study analyzes the impact of privatization on economic growth, productivity, income inequality and unemployment in 22 European countries between 2004 and 2013. The empirical findings suggest that privatization has a positive contemporaneous impact on economic growth, but the effects on labor productivity, income distribution, and unemployment appear two years after the privatization reforms. More concretely, privatization reforms may be implemented with increases in productivity and decreases in unemployment, but to the detriment of income equality.

Suggested Citation

  • Beatriz Cuadrado-Ballesteros & Noemí Peña-Miguel, 2018. "The Socioeconomic Consequences of Privatization: An Empirical Analysis for Europe," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 139(1), pages 163-183, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:soinre:v:139:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1007_s11205-017-1713-2
    DOI: 10.1007/s11205-017-1713-2
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11205-017-1713-2
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11205-017-1713-2?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Andrei Shleifer, 1998. "State versus Private Ownership," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 12(4), pages 133-150, Fall.
    2. Christopher F Baum & Mark E. Schaffer & Steven Stillman, 2003. "Instrumental variables and GMM: Estimation and testing," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 3(1), pages 1-31, March.
    3. Chao, Chi-Chur & Nabin, Munirul & Nguyen, Xuan & Sgro, Pasquale M., 2016. "Wage inequality and welfare in developing countries: Privatization and reforms in the short and long run," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 474-483.
    4. Narjess Boubakri & Jean-Claude Cosset, 1998. "The Financial and Operating Performance of Newly Privatized Firms: Evidence from Developing Countries," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 53(3), pages 1081-1110, June.
    5. Cooray, Arusha, 2010. "Do stock markets lead to economic growth?," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 32(4), pages 448-460, July.
    6. Andrea Bassanini & Romain Duval, 2006. "Employment Patterns in OECD Countries: Reassessing the Role of Policies and Institutions," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 486, OECD Publishing.
    7. Shiyong Zhao, 2013. "Privatization, FDI inflow and economic growth: evidence from China's provinces, 1978--2008," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(15), pages 2127-2139, May.
    8. Birdsall, Nancy & Nellis, John, 2003. "Winners and Losers: Assessing the Distributional Impact of Privatization," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 31(10), pages 1617-1633, October.
    9. Robert M. Solow, 1956. "A Contribution to the Theory of Economic Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 70(1), pages 65-94.
    10. John Nellis, 2006. "Privatization: A Summary Assessment," Working Papers 87, Center for Global Development.
    11. Jensen, Michael C. & Meckling, William H., 1976. "Theory of the firm: Managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 305-360, October.
    12. Harrison, Ann, 1996. "Openness and growth: A time-series, cross-country analysis for developing countries," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(2), pages 419-447, March.
    13. Tohru Naito, 2013. "Privatization Of Public Firms And Urban Unemployment In An Integrated Economy," Review of Urban & Regional Development Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(2), pages 93-106, July.
    14. Bergman, Mats A. & Johansson, Per & Lundberg, Sofia & Spagnolo, Giancarlo, 2016. "Privatization and quality: Evidence from elderly care in Sweden," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 109-119.
    15. Megginson, William L & Nash, Robert C & van Randenborgh, Matthias, 1994. "The Financial and Operating Performance of Newly Privatized Firms: An International Empirical Analysis," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 49(2), pages 403-452, June.
    16. Nixson, Frederick & Walters, Bernard, 2006. "Privatization, Income Distribution, and Poverty: The Mongolian Experience," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 34(9), pages 1557-1579, September.
    17. Nisreen Salti, 2015. "Income inequality and the composition of public debt," Journal of Economic Studies, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 42(5), pages 821-837, October.
    18. Sunita Kikeri, 2004. "An Assessment of Privatization," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 19(1), pages 87-118.
    19. Simon Commander & Andrei Tolstopiatenko & Ruslan Yemtsov, 1999. "Channels of redistribution: Inequality and poverty in the Russian transition," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 7(2), pages 411-447, July.
    20. Barro, Robert J, 2000. "Inequality and Growth in a Panel of Countries," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 5(1), pages 5-32, March.
    21. Giuseppe Nicoletti & Stefano Scarpetta, 2003. "Regulation, productivity and growth: OECD evidence [‘A model of growth through creative destruction’]," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 18(36), pages 9-72.
    22. David McKenzie & Dilip Mookherjee, 2003. "The Distributive Impact of Privatization in Latin America: Evidence from Four Countries," Economía Journal, The Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association - LACEA, vol. 0(Spring 20), pages 161-234, January.
    23. Riddell, W. Craig & Song, Xueda, 2011. "The impact of education on unemployment incidence and re-employment success: Evidence from the U.S. labour market," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(4), pages 453-463, August.
    24. Miguel D. Ramirez, 2006. "Does Foreign Direct Investment Enhance Labor Productivity Growth in Chile? A Cointegration Analysis," Eastern Economic Journal, Eastern Economic Association, vol. 32(2), pages 205-220, Spring.
    25. Plane, Patrick, 1999. "Privatization, Technical Efficiency and Welfare Consequences: The Case of the Cote d'Ivoire Electricity Company (CIE)," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 343-360, February.
    26. Burcak Polat, 2016. "Capital Outflows and Unemployment: A Panel Analysis of OECD Countries," Applied Economics and Finance, Redfame publishing, vol. 3(4), pages 73-77, November.
    27. Belorgey, Nicolas & Lecat, Remy & Maury, Tristan-Pierre, 2006. "Determinants of productivity per employee: An empirical estimation using panel data," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 91(2), pages 153-157, May.
    28. Boubakri, Narjess & Cosset, Jean-Claude & Guedhami, Omrane, 2005. "Postprivatization corporate governance: The role of ownership structure and investor protection," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(2), pages 369-399, May.
    29. Bourguignon, Francois & Morrisson, Christian, 1998. "Inequality and development: the role of dualism," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(2), pages 233-257.
    30. Andrea Bassanini & Romain Duval, 2006. "The Determinants of Unemployment across OECD Countries," Post-Print halshs-00120584, HAL.
    31. John Bennett & Saul Estrin & Giovanni Urga, 2007. "Methods of privatization and economic growth in transition economies," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 15, pages 661-683, October.
    32. Mr. Sanjeev Gupta & Mr. Henry Ma & Mr. Christian Schiller, 1999. "Privatization, Social Impact, and Social Safety Nets," IMF Working Papers 1999/068, International Monetary Fund.
    33. Bortolotti, Bernardo & Fantini, Marcella & Siniscalco, Domenico, 2001. "Privatisation: politics, institutions, and financial markets," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 2(2), pages 109-137, June.
    34. D'Souza, Juliet & Megginson, William & Nash, Robert, 2005. "Effect of institutional and firm-specific characteristics on post-privatization performance: Evidence from developed countries," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 11(5), pages 747-766, October.
    35. Jeffry M. Netter & William L. Megginson, 2001. "From State to Market: A Survey of Empirical Studies on Privatization," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 39(2), pages 321-389, June.
    36. Jože Mencinger, 2003. "Does Foreign Direct Investment Always Enhance Economic Growth?," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(4), pages 491-508, November.
    37. Wolfgang Streeck, 2014. "The Politics of Public Debt: Neoliberalism, Capitalist Development and the Restructuring of the State," German Economic Review, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 15(1), pages 143-165, February.
    38. Samuel Adams & Berhanu Mengistu, 2008. "Privatization, Governance and Economic Development in Developing Countries," Journal of Developing Societies, , vol. 24(4), pages 415-438, October.
    39. Ramamurti, Ravi, 1997. "Testing the limits of privatization: Argentine railroads," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 25(12), pages 1973-1993, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Fang, Min & Huang, Zibin, 2022. "Migration, housing constraints, and inequality: A quantitative analysis of China," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    2. Brzić, Barbara & Dabić, Marina & Kukura, Frane & Podobnik, Boris, 2021. "The effects of corruption and the fraction of private ownership on the productivity of telecommunication companies," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    3. Noemí Peña-Miguel & Beatriz Cuadrado-Ballesteros, 2021. "Effect of privatisation on income inequality: a European analysis," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 48(3), pages 697-716, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Noemí Peña-Miguel & Beatriz Cuadrado-Ballesteros, 2021. "Effect of privatisation on income inequality: a European analysis," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 48(3), pages 697-716, August.
    2. Alberto Chong & Florencio de, 2003. "The Truth about Privatization in Latin America," Yale School of Management Working Papers ysm436, Yale School of Management.
    3. D'Souza, Juliet & Megginson, William & Nash, Robert, 2007. "The effects of changes in corporate governance and restructurings on operating performance: Evidence from privatizations," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 157-184.
    4. Chen, Ruiyuan & El Ghoul, Sadok & Guedhami, Omrane & Wang, He, 2017. "Do state and foreign ownership affect investment efficiency? Evidence from privatizations," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 408-421.
    5. Mathur, Ike & Banchuenvijit, Wanrapee, 2007. "The effects of privatization on the performance of newly privatized firms in emerging markets," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 8(2), pages 134-146, May.
    6. Boubakri, Narjess & Cosset, Jean-Claude & Guedhami, Omrane & Saffar, Walid, 2011. "The political economy of residual state ownership in privatized firms: Evidence from emerging markets," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 244-258, April.
    7. Estrin, Saul & Pelletier, Adeline, 2016. "Privatisation in Developing Countries: What Are the Lessons of Recent Experience?," IZA Discussion Papers 10297, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Boubakri, Narjess & Guedhami, Omrane & Kwok, Chuck C.Y. & Wang, He (Helen), 2019. "Is privatization a socially responsible reform?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 129-151.
    9. Beuselinck, Christof & Cao, Lihong & Deloof, Marc & Xia, Xinping, 2017. "The value of government ownership during the global financial crisis," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 481-493.
    10. Henk Berkman & Rebel A. Cole & Lawrence J. Fu, 2014. "Improving corporate governance where the State is the controlling block holder: evidence from China," The European Journal of Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(7-9), pages 752-777, September.
    11. De Haas, Ralph & Guriev, Sergei & Stepanov, Alexander, 2022. "State Ownership and Corporate Leverage Around the World," CEPR Discussion Papers 17300, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    12. Vivien Foster & José Luis Guasch & Luis Andrés & Thomas Haven, 2008. "The Impact of Private Sector Participation in Infrastructure: Lights, Shadows, and the Road Ahead," IDB Publications (Books), Inter-American Development Bank, number 59818, February.
    13. Luis A. Andrés & J. Luis Guasch & Thomas Haven & Vivien Foster, 2008. "The Impact of Private Sector Participation in Infrastructure : Lights, Shadows, and the Road Ahead," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 6545, December.
    14. repec:idb:brikps:358 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Arocena, Pablo & Oliveros, Diana, 2012. "The efficiency of state-owned and privatized firms: Does ownership make a difference?," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(1), pages 457-465.
    16. Qi Quan & N. Huyghebaert, 2004. "Privatization. Issues at Stake in the Case of China," Review of Business and Economic Literature, KU Leuven, Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB), Review of Business and Economic Literature, vol. 0(4), pages 647-687.
    17. O'Toole, Conor M. & Morgenroth, Edgar L.W. & Ha, Thuy T., 2016. "Investment efficiency, state-owned enterprises and privatisation: Evidence from Viet Nam in Transition," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 93-108.
    18. Diana Oliveros & Mauricio Mendoza, 2013. "¿Es la privatización la solución a los problemas de ineficiencia de las empresas públicas?: Revisión de la literatura," Revista Lebret, Universidad Santo Tomás - Bucaramanga, December.
    19. Filippo Belloc, 2014. "Innovation in State-Owned Enterprises: Reconsidering the Conventional Wisdom," Journal of Economic Issues, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(3), pages 821-848.
    20. Boubakri, Narjess & Guedhami, Omrane & Saffar, Walid, 2016. "Geographic location, foreign ownership, and cost of equity capital: Evidence from privatization," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 363-381.
    21. Laura Cabeza García & Silvia Gómez Ansón, 2012. "What Drives the Operating Performance of Privatised Firms?," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 59(1), pages 1-27, February.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:soinre:v:139:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1007_s11205-017-1713-2. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.