By Luka Oresković and Sašo Stanovnik On Sunday, Slovenians vote for a new head of state in the second round of presidential elections. Although the incumbent, Danilo Türk, seemed a certain winner before the first round in November, Borut Pahor, the former centre-left prime minister, surprised pundits and pollsters by winning 40 per cent of the… Read More
Why the Kremlin Won’t Privatize Rosneft
by Luka Oreskovic After World War II, French governments from both sides of the political aisle pursued a policy known as dirigisme. Dirigisme entailed consolidating fragmented industrial assets into large holdings, or “national champions’, that could carry long-term economic growth and speed up recovery in the postwar years. National champions to this day remain enshrined in the national conscience of the French people as proud symbols… Read More
Water Privatization in Russia: More Than a Drop in the Ocean
By Luka Oreskovic Without water, humans can only live for a few days. Yet only about 1 percent of the earth’s water is suitable for human consumption. Rising GDP brings increases in demand for food production, including meat, which demands the greatest amount of water. Treating water is therefore a key utility. With over $400 billion in annual turnover, freshwater supply and wastewater treatment account for over… Read More
Selling the Georgian Dream
By Luka Oreskovic Eight years ago, an enthusiastic crowd gathered in front of the Tbilisi parliament for Mikheil Saakashvili’s presidential inauguration. “We must create the Georgia that our ancestors dreamed of,” he told them, “the Georgia that we dream of.” His dream was that of a democratic, NATO member country with a growing liberalized economy, low corruption and high living standards. Since then, President… Read More
Cuba Puts Brakes on Move toward Non-State Economy
In April Cuban government officials announced plans to move about 40 percent of the country’s output to the nonstate sector in five years. This followed a move two years ago to lay off employees in state owned enterprises and encourage them to become entrepreneurs, operating their own businesses. Over 250,000 Cubans took advantage of this… Read More
Greece to Raise €50 billion by 2015 via Privatization
Greek government aims to raise €50 billion by 2015 via privatization—or 1/6th of its estimated 2011 $308 billion GDP (40% is public sector). Caught between the European financing bailout requirements, the general concerns of Greek citizens about losing their country’s treasured assets and the specific concerns of more well paid and unionized employees of state… Read More
Vietnam Privatization Slowed by Book Value vs. Market Value Rule
The Ministry of Finance in Vietnam plans to privatize 367 state-owned enterprises by 2015 (as many as 93 SOEs this year). The privatization process is slower than hoped because of the government’s rule that SOEs cannot sell stakes to investors at prices below the SOE’s book value. Government officals are asked to consider allowing… Read More
Water for Life – Privatization & Regulation Reduce Child Mortality in Argentina
The experience of Argentinian municipalities in the 1990’s offer lessons for the benefits of privatizing water local government supplies. Some municipalities privatized and others did not, yielding a comparison of results. Those municipalities that privatized the water delivery systems found a greater reduction in child mortality. Studies suggest that the combination of privatization and effective… Read More