Приватизация и рациональная структура собственности (Privatizatsiya i ratsional’naya struktura sobstvennosti)[Privatization and the Rational Ownership Structure]

The costs and benefits of privatization are considered, focusing on the current Russian conditions. The experience of many countries, as well as econometric and theoretical studies, a review of which is given in the paper, show that relative efficiency of privatized enterprises in comparison with the state depends on the stage of economic development and quality of institutions. State-owned enterprises may have a number of special functions which are particularly important for developing or resource abundant economies. In particular, they can play the role of agents of modernization to initiate large-scale projects as public-private partnerships. It is shown that the decision on privatization should be considered in the context of a more general problem of finding a rational ownership structure in an economy. Factors affecting the comparative efficiency of public and private enterprises are analyzed. A number of hypotheses are proposed about the shape of dependence of the rational ownership structure on the level of development, the quality of government, and the quality of markets. Recommendations on improvement of the public sector management are formulated.