Privatisation in Developing Countries: What Are the Lessons of Recent Experience?

Saul Estrin () and Adeline Pelletier ()
Additional contact information
Saul Estrin: London School of Economics
Adeline Pelletier: University of London

No 10297, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: This paper reviews recent empirical evidence on privatisation in developing countries. Particular emphasis is placed on new areas of research such as the distributional impacts of privatisation. Overall, the literature now reflects a more cautious and nuanced evaluation of privatisation. Thus it is found that private ownership alone does not automatically generate economic and employment gains in developing economies; pre-conditions (especially the regulatory infrastructure) and the process of privatisation are important to attain a positive impact. Such factors include well-designed and sequenced reforms; the implementation of complementary policies; the creation of regulatory capacity; attention to poverty and social impacts; and strong public communication; a list which is often challenging in developing countries. However, the studies do identify scope for efficiency-enhancing privatisation which also promotes equity in developing countries.

Keywords: developing economies; economic reforms; impact of privatisation; regulation; distribution of income (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L1 L51 O10 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 48 pages
Date: 2016-10
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Published - published in: World Bank Research Observer, 2018, 33 (1), 65–102,

Downloads: (external link)
https://docs.iza.org/dp10297.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10297

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
IZA, Margard Ody, P.O. Box 7240, D-53072 Bonn, Germany

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA) IZA, P.O. Box 7240, D-53072 Bonn, Germany. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Holger Hinte ().