The Distributive Impact of Privatization in Latin America: Evidence from Four Countries

This paper provides an overview of the results of a project that evaluates the distributive impact of privatization in four Latin America countries. The aim of the project was to estimate the effects of privatization on customers and workers, based on existing household and employment surveys. Four countries of varying size and per capita income were chosen for the study: two large, middle-income countries (Argentina and Mexico) and two small, poor countries (Bolivia and Nicaragua). This paper provides an overview of the methodology and results of the individual country papers, which contain further details concerning the privatization process and data sources used for each specific country. All four countries have undergone significant privatization since the late 1980s, and they have similar data sources that permit the application of a common methodology. The Nicaraguan case, however, was qualitatively different from the other three countries, in that large parts of the economy (including agriculture) were privatized as part of the transition from a socialist economy, while utilities that remained in the state sector throughout the 1990s were exposed to greater liberalization