Bureaucrats in Business—The Economics and Politics of Government Ownership

Despite more than a decade of divestiture, state-owned enterprises account for nearly as large a share of developing countries' economies today as twenty years ago. Such enterprises are often inefficient and hinder economy growth, making it harder for people to escape poverty. Why have reforms had such little impact? The report offers guidance for successful reform and suggests ways that foreign assistance can more effectively support reform efforts. The countries covered in the case studies are Chile, China, Czech Republic, Egypt, Ghana, India, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Philippines, Poland, Senegal, and Turkey.

Bureaucrats in Business—The Economics and Politics of Government Ownership examines the economic problems that arise when governments own and operate enterprises that could be managed by the private sector. It draws on a rich database and detailed country case studies to provide the most comprehensive assessment yet of a decade of divestiture and reform of state-owned enterprises. It evaluates the experiences of 12 countries, some of which have reformed successfully, and some which did not.

Authors

Bureaucrats in Business—The Economics and Politics of Government Ownership was written by Mary Shirley and Ahmed Galal in the World Bank’s Development Research Group The report was produced under the direction of Lyn Squire and Michael Bruno. Original research for this report includes work by the authors and by Philip Keefer, Bharat Nauriyal, Abdalla Gergis, Rebecca Hife, Clemencia Torres, Herbert Baer, Gerard Caprio, and David Wheeler.

Documents

Full text (English, French, Vietnamese)

Summary (English)

Dataset 
This dataset provides time series data on key variables describing state-owned enterprise sectors for approximately 40 countries for 1971 through 1991.


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