According to leading economic theorists, creating capitalism out of communism requires rapid privatization. In this article we empirically test the welfare implications of privatization policies in Post-Soviet countries by using cross-national panel mortality data as an indicator of social costs. We find that rapid privatization – whether measured by a novel measure of mass privatization program implementation or Enterprise Bank for Reconstruction and Development privatization outcome scores – is a critical determinant of life expectancy losses, and that when privatization policies are reversed, life expectancy improves. Using selection models, we show that endogeneity understates the social costs of rapid privatization.
Download Info
To download:
If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the
proper application to
view it first. Information about this may be contained
in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read
the IDEAS help
file. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS
site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
Length: pages Date of creation: 01 Sep 2007 Date of revision: Handle: RePEc:wdi:papers:2007-890
Contact details of provider: Postal: 724 E. University Ave. Wyly Hall, Floor 1, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1234 Phone: 734 615 4566 Fax: (734) 763-5850 Email: Web page: http://www.wdi.umich.edu More information through EDIRC
For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its listing, contact: (Patricia Loh).
Find related papers by JEL classification: I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Production J18 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Public Policy L33 - Industrial Organization - - Nonprofit Organizations and Public Enterprise - - - Boundaries of Public and Private Enterprise; Privatization; Contracting Out P36 - Economic Systems - - Socialist Institutions and Their Transitions - - - Consumer Economics; Health, Education, Welfare, and Poverty
This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:
References listed on IDEAS Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.: