Optimizing the Role of the Public Sector: Constraints and Remedial Policies

Deskripsi

How should public sector industries be run? Does it matter if they make a loss? Is it possible for them to be run efficiently when governments are involved? Is privatization the only solution? In Britain, this debate is largely closed, for the time being at least, but I sense that these questions are live issues in many of the developing countries of Asia.
The public sector as a whole embraces not only the state-owned industriesof a commercial or quasi-commercial character, but also the free or subsidizedpublic services such as education or health care. However, the role and problemsof the British welfare state are of little interest to the development-minded. Tothe extent that they see any relevance in the experience of Britain, the firstcountry to industrialize, those concerned with development discern it rather inthe reasons why Britain, having undertaken nationalization for so long, is nowventuring into privatization.