Mass privatisation and the post-communist mortality crisis: is there really a relationship

John Earle and Scott Gehlbach

No 105, UCL SSEES Economics and Business working paper series from UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES)

Abstract: We reexamine the recent, well-publicized claim that "rapid mass privatisation [of state-owned enterprises]... was a crucial determinant of differences in adult mortality trends in post-communist countries" (Stuckler, King and McKee, 2009). Our analysis shows that the estimated correlation of privatization and mortality in country-level data is not robust to recomputing the mass-privatization measure, to assuming a short lag for economic policies to affect mortality, and to controlling for country-specific mortality trends. Further, in an analysis of the determinants of mortality in Russian regions, we find no evidence that privatization increased mortality during the early 1990s. Finally, we reanalyze the relationship between privatization and unemployment in postcommunist countries, showing that there is little support for the proposed mechanism by which privatization might have increased mortality.

Date: 2010-02
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Related works:
Working Paper: "Mass Privatisation and the Post-Communist Mortality Crisis": Is There Really a Relationship? (2010)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:see:wpaper:105

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