IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/adr/anecst/y2004i75-76p109-133.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Privatisations as price reforms: Evaluating consumers' welfare changes in the U.K

Author

Listed:
  • Rinaldo Brau
  • Massimo Florio

Abstract

This paper analyses the effects on consumers' welfare of the privatisation policy carried out in the UK since 1979. The approach we follow evaluates the privatisation of a State owned enterprise within the broader framework of the "policy reform" theory (Drèze and Stern [1990]). By adopting this perspective, the change in consumers' welfare "with" and "without" privatisations can be studied by appropriate welfare measures. We claim that an advantage of our approach is that of being able to provide the required welfare assessment in a simplified way by means of a limited set of information. In particular, we show that a series of welfare measures only based on aggregate information can be used where one accepts the use of first and second order approximations and a few "reasonable" assumptions on the shape of demand functions. These welfare measures are subsequently used for the evaluation of the welfare effects related to price variations in seven British privatised public utilities. We conclude that the contribution to consumers' welfare of the privatisation policy in the UK, when compared to the huge transfers involved in the process, has been rather modest.

Suggested Citation

  • Rinaldo Brau & Massimo Florio, 2004. "Privatisations as price reforms: Evaluating consumers' welfare changes in the U.K," Annals of Economics and Statistics, GENES, issue 75-76, pages 109-133.
    • Handle: RePEc:adr:anecst:y:2004:i:75-76:p:109-133
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20079097
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Roberts, Kevin, 1980. "Price-independent welfare prescriptions," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(3), pages 277-297, June.
    2. Dixit, Avinash, 1975. "Welfare effects of tax and price changes," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 4(2), pages 103-123, February.
    3. Guesnerie, Roger, 1977. "On the direction of tax reform," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 7(2), pages 179-202, April.
    4. David M. Newbery, 2002. "Privatization, Restructuring, and Regulation of Network Utilities," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262640481, December.
    5. Ray, Ranjan, 1999. "Marginal and Non-marginal Commodity Tax Reforms with Rank Two and Rank Three Demographic Demand Systems," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 51(4), pages 689-712, October.
    6. Atkinson, Anthony B., 1970. "On the measurement of inequality," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 2(3), pages 244-263, September.
    7. Ahmad, Ehtisham & Stern, Nicholas, 1984. "The theory of reform and indian indirect taxes," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 259-298, December.
    8. Arnold Harberger, 1964. "Taxation, Resource Allocation, and Welfare," NBER Chapters, in: The Role of Direct and Indirect Taxes in the Federal Reserve System, pages 25-80, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Newbery, David M, 1995. "The Distributional Impact of Price Changes in Hungary and the United Kingdom," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 105(431), pages 847-863, July.
    10. Massimo Florio, 2001. "The welfare impact of a privatisation: the British Telecom case-history," Departmental Working Papers 2001-08, Department of Economics, Management and Quantitative Methods at Università degli Studi di Milano.
    11. Auerbach, Alan J., 1985. "The theory of excess burden and optimal taxation," Handbook of Public Economics, in: A. J. Auerbach & M. Feldstein (ed.), Handbook of Public Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 2, pages 61-127, Elsevier.
    12. Banks, James & Blundell, Richard & Lewbel, Arthur, 1996. "Tax Reform and Welfare Measurement: Do We Need Demand System Estimation?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 106(438), pages 1227-1241, September.
    13. Deaton, Angus S & Muellbauer, John, 1980. "An Almost Ideal Demand System," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 70(3), pages 312-326, June.
    14. Dreze, Jean & Stern, Nicholas, 1990. "Policy reform, shadow prices, and market prices," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(1), pages 1-45, June.
    15. Deaton, Angus, 1974. "A Reconsideration of the Empirical Implications of Additive Preferences," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 84(334), pages 338-348, June.
    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. Massimo Florio, 2007. "Electricity Prices as Signals for the Evaluation of Reforms: An Empirical Analysis of Four European Countries," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(1), pages 1-27.
    2. G. Marletto, 2006. "La politica dei trasporti come politica per l'innovazione: spunti da un approccio evolutivo," Working Paper CRENoS 200605, Centre for North South Economic Research, University of Cagliari and Sassari, Sardinia.

    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. Massimo Florio & Rinaldo Brau, 2001. "Privatisations as price reforms: an analysis of consumers' welfare change in the U.K," Departmental Working Papers 2001-19, Department of Economics, Management and Quantitative Methods at Università degli Studi di Milano.
    2. Alessandro Santoro, 2007. "Marginal Commodity Tax Reforms: A Survey," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(4), pages 827-848, September.
    3. Paolo Liberati, 2001. "The Distributional Effects of Indirect Tax Changes in Italy," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 8(1), pages 27-51, January.
    4. Carvalho, Diogo Baerlocher & Siqueira, Rozane Bezerra de & Nogueira, José Ricardo Bezerra, 2013. "Características Distributivas e Impacto de Reformas Tributárias Sobre o Bem-Estar das Famílias no Brasil," Revista Brasileira de Economia - RBE, EPGE Brazilian School of Economics and Finance - FGV EPGE (Brazil), vol. 67(3), September.
    5. repec:fgv:epgrbe:v:67:n:3:a:1 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Urzúa, Carlos M., 2004. "The Ahmad-Stern approach revisited: Variants and an application to Mexico," EGAP Working Papers 2004-05, Tecnológico de Monterrey, Campus Ciudad de México.
    7. Peter Tóth & Andrej Cupák & Marian Rizov, 2021. "Measuring the efficiency of VAT reforms: a demand system simulation approach," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 73(3), pages 1218-1243.
    8. Vidar Christiansen & Zhiyang Jia & Thor O. Thoresen, 2022. "Assessing income tax perturbations," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 29(2), pages 472-504, April.
    9. Paul Oslington, 2012. "General Equilibrium: Theory and Evidence," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 88(282), pages 446-448, September.
    10. Boadway, Robin, 1999. "Le rôle de la théorie de l’optimum du second rang en économie publique," L'Actualité Economique, Société Canadienne de Science Economique, vol. 75(1), pages 29-65, mars-juin.
    11. W D A Bryant, 2009. "General Equilibrium:Theory and Evidence," World Scientific Books, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., number 6875.
    12. Baccouche, Rafiq & Laisney, François, 1988. "Évaluation de six propositions de réforme de la TVA sur données microéconomiques," L'Actualité Economique, Société Canadienne de Science Economique, vol. 64(2), pages 178-208, juin.
    13. repec:ebl:ecbull:v:8:y:2005:i:4:p:1-8 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Kaplanoglou, Georgia & Newbery, David Michael, 2003. "Indirect Taxation in Greece: Evaluation and Possible Reform," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 10(5), pages 511-533, September.
    15. Andrej Cupák & Peter Tóth, 2017. "Measuring the Efficiency of VAT reforms: Evidence from Slovakia," Working and Discussion Papers WP 6/2017, Research Department, National Bank of Slovakia.
    16. David Coady & Jean Dreze, 2000. "Commodity Taxation and Social Welfare: The Generalised Ramsey Rule," Working papers 87, Centre for Development Economics, Delhi School of Economics.
    17. John Creedy, 2004. "The Effects on New Zealand Households of an Increase in The Petrol Excise Tax," Treasury Working Paper Series 04/01, New Zealand Treasury.
    18. Abdelkrim Araar & Paolo Verme, 2019. "Prices and Welfare," Springer Books, Springer, number 978-3-030-17423-1, July.
    19. David Coady, 2006. "The Welfare Returns to Finer Targeting: The Case of The Progresa Program in Mexico," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 13(2), pages 217-239, May.
    20. Coady, David, 2001. "An evaluation of the distributional power of PROGRESA's cash transfers in Mexico," FCND discussion papers 117, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    21. Jason Loughrey & Cathal O’Donoghue, 2012. "The Welfare Impact of Price Changes on Household Welfare and Inequality 1999-2011," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 43(1), pages 31-66.
    22. Allouch, Nizar & King, Maia, 2021. "Welfare targeting in networks," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D6 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics
    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
    • L33 - Industrial Organization - - Nonprofit Organizations and Public Enterprise - - - Comparison of Public and Private Enterprise and Nonprofit Institutions; Privatization; Contracting Out

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:adr:anecst:y:2004:i:75-76:p:109-133. 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: Secretariat General or Laurent Linnemer (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ensaefr.html .

    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.