This is a carefully edited selection of the most important articles concerning the impact of privatisation on corporate performance. Part III consists of papers on empirical studies of privatisation. The final part focuses on outstanding issues of privatisation and corporate performance and includes pointers to future research.

Contents: Acknowledgements Introduction David Parker PART I THE THEORY OF PRIVATISATION 1. James M. Buchanan (1978), ‘From Private Preferences to Public Philosophy: The Development of Public Choice’ 2. David E. Sappington and Joseph E. Stiglitz (1987), ‘Privatization, Information and Incentives’ 3. Carl Shapiro and Robert D. Willig (1990), ‘Economic Rationales for the Scope of Privatization’ 4. John Vickers and George Yarrow (1991), ‘Economic Perspectives on Privatization’ 5. Jean-Jacques Laffont and Jean Tirole (1991), ‘Privatization and Incentives’ 6. Giovanni De Fraja (1993), ‘Productive Efficiency in Public and Private Firms’ 7. Ellen M. Pint (1991), ‘Nationalization vs. Regulation of Monopolies: The Effects of Ownership on Efficiency’ 8. Johan Willner (1996), ‘A Comment on Bradburd: “Privatisation of Natural Monopolies”’ 9. Maxim Boycko, Andrei Shleifer and Robert W. Vishny (1996), ‘A Theory of Privatisation’ PART II EMPIRICAL STUDIES OF STATE AND PRIVATE OWNERSHIP 10. Thomas E. Borcherding, Werner Pommerehne and Friedrich Schneider (1982), ‘Comparing the Efficiency of Private and Public Production: The Evidence from Five Countries’ 11. Robert Millward (1982), ‘The Comparative Performance of Public and Private Ownership’ 12. Anthony Boardman, Ruth Freedman and Catherine Eckel (1986), ‘The Price of Government Ownership: A Study of the Domtar Takeover’ 13. Anthony E. Boardman and Aiden R. Vining (1989), ‘Ownership and Performance in Competitive Environments: A Comparison of the Performance of Private, Mixed, and State-Owned Enterprises’ 14. Matthew Bishop and David Thompson (1992), ‘Regulatory Reform and Productivity Growth in the UK’s Public Utilities’ 15. Jonathan Haskel and Stefan Szymanski (1993), ‘Privatization, Liberalization, Wages and Employment: Theory and Evidence for the UK’ PART III EMPIRICAL STUDIES OF PRIVATISATION 16. Ahmed Galal, Leroy Jones, Pankaj Tandon and Ingo Vogelsang (1994), extract from ‘Divestiture: Questions and Answers’ and ‘Synthesis of Cases’ 17. William L. Megginson, Robert C. Nash and Matthias van Randenborgh (1994), ‘The Financial and Operating Performance of Newly Privatized Firms: An International Empirical Analysis’ 18. David Parker and Stephen Martin (1995), ‘The Impact of UK Privatisation on Labour and Total Factor Productivity’ 19. V. Bhaskar and Mushtaq Khan (1995), ‘Privatization and Employment: A Study of the Jute Industry in Bangladesh’ 20. Carl Greenidge (1997), ‘A Case of the Curate’s Egg: The Political Economy of Privatization in Guyana’ 21. Narjess Boubakri and Jean-Claude Cossett (1998), ‘The Financial and Operating Performance of Newly Privatized Firms: Evidence from Developing Countries’ 22. Giovanni Fraquelli and Fabrizio Erbetta (2000), ‘Privatization in Italy: An Analysis of Factor Productivity and Technical Efficiency’ PART IV PRIVATISATION AND CORPORATE PERFORMANCE: SOME OUTSTANDING ISSUES 23. J.A. Kay and D.J. Thompson (1986), ‘Privatisation: A Policy in Search of a Rationale’ 24. Keith Cowling and Roger Sugden (1993), ‘A Strategy for Industrial Development as a Basis for Regulation’ 25. Dieter Bös (1999), ‘Theoretical Perspectives on Privatisation: Some Outstanding Issues’ 26. John Nellis (1999), ‘Time to Rethink Privatization in Transition Economies?’ Name Index