Small-scale Privatization Research Articles

Small-scale Privatization Level and Trend of North Korea: A Quantitative Approach

Small-scale Privatization Level and Trend of North Korea: A Quantitative Approach

Reform and Inequality During the Transition: An Analysis using Panel Household Survey Data, 1990-2005

Using for the first time survey data from 26 post-Communist countries, covering the period 1990-2005, the paper examines correlates of unprecedented increases in inequality registered by most of these economies. We find that, after controlling for country-fixed effects and type of survey used, economic reform (measured by the EBRD index) is strongly negatively associated with bottom deciles' income shares and positively with income shares of the top two deciles. However, once economic reform is broken into its different component parts, the picture is more nuanced: large-scale privatization and infrastructure reform (mostly consisting of privatization and higher fees) are responsible for this pro-inequality effect while small-scale privatization tends to raise income shares of the bottom deciles. Acceleration in growth is also pro-rich. On the other hand, democratization (measured by the Polity measure) is strongly pro-poor, as is lower inflation. Somewhat surprisingly, we find no evidence that higher government spending as share of GDI reduces inequality.

ДОСЛІДЖЕННЯ СТАНУ ОРГАНІЗАЦІЇ ЗАБЕЗПЕЧЕННЯ НАСЕЛЕННЯ ЛІКАРСЬКИМИ ЗАСОБАМИ В РОКИ НЕЗАЛЕЖНОСТІ УКРАЇНИ -СТАНОВЛЕННЯ ФАРМАЦЕВТИЧНОГО РИНКУ

<p>The aim of the research was to study the correspondence of existing legislative and regulatory requirements of the pharmaceutical industry development, the analysis of the formation of the Ukrainian pharmaceutical market, the condition of drug assistance according to European requirements and recommendations of the WHO.</p><p>For the study archival materials, publications in scientific journals, and mass media were used, laws and provisions regulating pharmaceutical activity were studied and a survey among citizens was conducted. Systematic and logical methods, analytical and comparative analysis were applied, and own researches were performed.</p><p>For 22 years of Ukrainian statehood formation the following institutes were created: Pharmacological College, Pharmacopoeia Committee and State Service for Quality Control of Drugs which were transported to other institutes. Important laws were adopted: the Law of Ukraine «On Medicines», the Law of Ukraine «On small-scale privatization», the Law of Ukraine «On large-scale privatization» and others, which contributed to the formation and development of the pharmaceutical market.</p><p>In comparison with 1990 the amount of drugstore chains increased two and a half times and in 2013 in the country already worked 15 566 drugstores, including 3 025 in villages. Specific peculiarity of pharmaceutical market formation in Ukraine was the creation of powerful own regional and all-Ukrainian drugstore chains, that is greatly different from such situation in EU countries, where the legislation allows to have only one or two drugstores. As the result of pharmaceutical market formation the drugs nomenclature increased eight times and now makes up more than 20 000 names, including 92.4 % generic drugs. According to publications, Ukraine lacks about 40 % of drug molecules needed for medical treatment, and 30 % of studied drugs are not proved. There is the problem of uncontrollable turnover and drugs consumption in Ukraine. Self-treatment is widespread today: 82 % of Ukrainians prescribe medicines by themselves even when they feel a little unwell.</p><p>Among all examined 75 drugstores in different regions (Zakarpattya, Rivne, Khmelnytsk, Kherson etc.) people can get drugs without prescription. During 2014 the pharmaceutical market in comparison with previous year rose by 14 % and its income made up 36 billion UAH. Drug producers perform aggressive marketing and break rules of drugs advertising. Among important problems that require the improvement of legislative and regulatory base at governmental level concerning the economic drug assistance for all population groups.</p>

Hybrid drinking water governance: Community participation and ongoing neoliberal reforms in rural Rajasthan, India

This paper examines a Rajasthan (India) drinking water supply project that relied on hybrid governance reforms in its original design. Decentralization and marketization, combined with a participatory approach, were intended to facilitate an empowering shift in state-citizen relationships. Paying citizens were expected to make quantity and quality demands of the state as consumers, not welfare beneficiaries. Research on the project 3years after its completion revealed that although payment for water and community participation were intended to compel the state to provide clean water, they failed in this regard. The problem of an unreliable state supply was solved through small scale privatization, a decision ‘independently’ reached at the local scale, but one that served to further undermine the state’s ability to provide clean water.In this paper, we trace the shifts in regulation that evolved in the post-project phase at both the state and village scale that resulted in the delivery of contaminated water. Ethnographic research indicates that community participation was introduced as a set of institutions that would govern how villagers interacted with the state and its water supply, but villagers altered community participation by introducing reforms in water governance as a way of coping with an unresponsive state and increased work burden. Community participation evolved in contradictory ways as the impacts of neoliberal environmental governance were felt. The paper contributes to understandings of neoliberalization processes’ local impacts by analyzing their ongoing hybridization at multiple scales. It further calls into question foundational notions that community participation in resource governance is the appropriate solution to drinking water supply.

Governance and enterprise restructuring: the case of Macedonia

Purpose– This paper is a case study of the Republic of Macedonia and focuses on the development of governance and enterprise restructuring. Thus, country's effective corporate governance and corporate control, which impact enterprise restructuring, are essential in the analysis of market-driven restructuring through domestic financial institutions and markets. The data used in this article are analyzed with an econometric regression model, which as employed in this study examines the interrelationships between governance and enterprise restructuring and set of policies that influence the governance patterns. Two basic hypothesis are taken in the analysis: first, governance and enterprise restructuring depend on set of policies, such as, large-scale privatization, small-scale privatization, price liberalization, competition policy, trade and foreign exchange system, banking reform and interest rate liberalization, securities markets and non-bank financial institutions and overall infrastructure reform; and second, governance and enterprise restructuring improves over time due to imposed policies. The paper aims to discuss these issues.Design/methodology/approach– The data used in this article are analyzed with an econometric regression model, which as employed in this study examines the interrelationships between governance and enterprise restructuring and set of policies that influence the governance patterns.Findings– There is still more to be done in order to bring these economies closer to the standards of developed ones. Indeed, it is needed considerable improvement of corporate governance, institution-building to control agency problems and imposing already adopted regulation, as well as, enforcing new enterprise restructuring policies, within existing policies of overall transition economy restructuring.Originality/value– This paper is a contribution to the research developing the business aspects of the Macedonian economy, as there is constant lack of scientific papers that deal with the specific issues of corporate governance and enterprise restructuring.

Czech Privatization: Players and Winners

This paper is focused on the behavior of different groups of economic agents participating in large scale privatization. Since large-scale privatization has many interactions with other privatization programs, we will also briefly describe restitutions, small scale privatization and property transfer to municipalities. We will present a descriptive analysis of rules and procedures of large scale privatization, identify the most important bidders for privatized property and analyze strategies they can use within given rules. By a sample of 201 firms we will demonstrate use of those strategies by different bidders and their relative success in the process.

Privatization in transition economies: Privatization scale and country size

This paper examines determinants of privatization in transition countries. Empirical studies of privatization are few and even fewer formal empirical analyses of privatization in transition countries exist. Another goal is to examine differences between large-scale and small-scale privatization. We find that scales of privatization respond differently to various determinants. Particularly, privatization scales are sensitive to changes in economic prosperity, unemployment, and inflation. Country size, not government size, seems to be driving privatization in transition countries. Effects of Soviet legacy are non-existent. Some findings are unique to the literature, while others differ from existing studies. Policy implications are discussed.

The sequencing of reform in transition economies

In this paper, we examine the consequences of sequencing on the progress of reforms in transition economies. The paper uses panel logit models to determine whether or not progress in some reforms enhances the prospects for other reforms. We find that progress on small-scale privatization is associated with advances in several other reforms, perhaps because small-scale privatization creates lobbies for reform. Our estimations suggest that a comprehensive program of small-scale privatization is needed to stimulate large-scale privatization, trade, and banking reform in a country that has undertaken little reform. Moreover, if restructuring is to occur banking reform is necessary. We also find that relaxing the fiscal constraint stimulates large-scale privatization, restructuring, and trade reform. Finally, we find that negotiations about EU accession negotiations advance the transition but only in banking reform and competition policy. Journal of Comparative Economics 33 (4) (2005) 835–850.

Transition Economies: Performance and Challenges

I present data and assess the first twelve years of the transition from plan to market. Transformations have taken place, but the income gap between the transition and advanced economies has widened. Transition countries further east have performed worse than those further west, but policies matter. All countries carried out quickly Type I reforms, such as macroeconomic stabilization, price liberalization, small-scale privatization, and breakup of state-owned enterprises. They differed in Type II reforms, such as large-scale privatization and development of banking and legal systems. Countries that developed a functioning legal framework and corporate governance have performed better than others.

Transition of Central and Eastern European countries into market economy

This paper analyze economic growth during the transition from centrally planned to market economy in Central and Eastern European and former Soviet Union countries. It provides a descriptive analysis of regional growth performance vis-a-vis countries at similar levels of different factors that have been identified in the cross-country literature as being associated with economic growth. Several points of controversy emerged within the overall stately, particularly over so-called shock therapy, and over sequencing. Rapid policy action was possible in some areas of reform - price and trade liberalization, and inflation stabilization, and perhaps small scale privatization - but in others it was clear that reform would take a long time. The controversies over shock treatment related mainly to macroeconomic stabilization and the pace at which privatization could be attempted, and to a lesser extant, over the pace of trade liberalization for some reason there was less controversy over the pace of trade liberalization. On sequencing the argument was that some reforms were preconditions for others - for instance that privatization would fail unless the right legal framework or financial system or both were in place, or that price decontrol should non take place until macroeconomic stabilization could be assured. After a brief assessment of the extent to which economic growth has been associated with progress on different measures of well being, the paper concludes with a list suggested issues to be investigated in the context of specific country studies.

Does privatization enhance or deter small enterprise formation?

Small enterprises are a growth engine in post-socialist economies. We argue that privatization can either enhance or deter small enterprise formation via its impact on the local business environment. We then show that in Russia small-scale privatization deterred small enterprise formation, while large-scale privatization enhanced it.

Is Economic Reform Popular at the Polls? Russia 1995

This paper provides evidence that Russian regions that experienced greater reforms, e.g., small-scale privatization and price liberalization, through Autumn 1995 exhibited greater support for reform in the December 1995 parliamentary elections. This positive association is not easily dismissed as a spurious result caused by regional differences in urbanization, economic growth, education attainment, wage arrears, natural resource endowments, or poverty rates. It is also not easily dismissed as a coincidence driven by the fact that some regions were inherently pro-reform because it remains after holding constant the region's vote for Yeltsin in the 1991 elections. Using republic status (measuring administrative autonomy) as an instrument for privatization supports the interpretation that reform itself caused electoral support for reform. Overall, the evidence supports the view that reforms created a positive feedback through the ballot box, rather than the alternative hypothesis that reforms created a backlash against reforms, as many observers feared when formulating transition strategy in the early 1990's. J. Comp. Econ., September 2001, 29(3), pp. 448–465. Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138. Copyright 2001 Academic Press.Journal of Economic Literature Classification Numbers: P2.

Does Privatization Enhance or Deter Privatization?

Small enterprises, whether start-ups or spin-offs from former state owned enterprises, are a growth engine in post-socialist economies. This paper argues that privatization can either enhance or deter small enterprise formation because of its impact of the local business environment. Using the case of Russia, we show that small-scale privatization deterred small enterprise formation, while large-scale privatization enhanced it.

The Progress of Privatization

As in most post-communist countries, privatization has been a complicated process in Ukraine. Early on, there was a broad public understanding that extensive privatization was needed. However, initially, there was little sense of urgency. The emphasis was on getting privatization right rather than getting it done quickly. Therefore, Ukraine got involved in a long and complex public debate over privatization. Privatization in Ukraine can be divided into two periods. The first period lasted from independence in 1992 until July 1994, when the newly elected Parliament legalized a moratorium on privatization. At the same time, Leonid Kuchma was elected president and replaced President Leonid Kravchuk.' The main elements of privatization have been small-scale and large-scale privatization of enterprises. The privatization of housing and land falls outside this account. Privatization is a deeply political process, and resistance to privatization needs scrutiny. However, there have also been many important technical problems. Ukraine has aimed to develop a stock market, but it remains rudimentary. The eventual purpose of privatization is enterprise restructuring, and some results will be discussed. Finally, a few conclusions shall be drawn about what needs to be done.

Regional Structural Change and Social Revolution: Development of the Population and Economy in West Bohemia in the Course of the ^|^ldquo;Velvet Revolution^|^rdquo;

The Central European States experience a tremendous pressure to adapt and likewise demonstrate the respective structural changes in the light of the transition process. there is continuous change of economic structures in an open liberal economic order. However, this change runs smoothly in comparison to the transition States, in which abrupt falls in industrial production could be seen. In West Bohemia - the area under inverstigation - this economic structural rupture comes to the fore in the form of a decline of importance of agriculture and industry resulting from the long and extensive privatization process. The economic structural rupture is also characterized by the growing relevance of the service sector, which was strengthened by the successful small-scale privatization process and the trend to establish new businesses. When one takes the growing importance into consideration, this tertiary process is even reinforced. Considering the population development in West Bohemia after 1990 as well as the economic structural changes, the border districts of Cheb and Tachov in particular show population growth. The border opening districts brought about a revial of trade and services (and thus settlement) particularly in the border crossing region towards Bavaria. The As area and Tachov region provide a good example of this. Although the net population of West Bohemia has increased since 1990, the population of former growth centers, i.e., towns of more than 5,000 citizens, show fairly high migration losses

The Privatization Process in Russia in 1995 General dynamics of the privatization process

The principal thrust of privatization in 1995 was the sharp decline of its quantitative indicators (see Table 1). Fewer than 4,000 enterprises submitted privatization applications and approximately 6,000 were privatized (or 5 percent of the total number of privatized enterprises). The breakdown of privatized enterprises by branch was as follows: trade (33 percent); industry (20 percent); construction (11.5); and public catering (7.4 percent). As a whole, among the enterprises privatized in 1995, 90 percent were small enterprises having workforces of fewer than 200 persons and on the average fixed capital valued at 15.4 million rubles (in 1991 prices); 55 percent of them were small-scale privatization projects. By January 1996, approximately 36,000 enterprises were in various stages of the incorporation process and there were over 27,000 registered joint-stock companies that were created on the basis of state (municipal) enterprises (as compared with 24,000 on January 1, 1995).

Rapid and multifaceted privatization: Experience of the Czech and Slovak Republics

Within three years of the overthrow of the communist regime, the Czech and Slovak governments have privatized about one-half of the economy. In its speed and extent, this is an unprecedented transformation, especially since the governments had neither prior experience nor the legal and institutional base for the process. The paper provides a descriptive analysis of the Czech and Slovak privatization process from 1990 to 1993. It examines each of the three programs of the overall privatization effort - restitution of property, small scale privatization, and large scale privatization - and evaluates the relative success of each. For each program, the paper outlines the background debates, describes the key institutions, examines the legal framework, and assesses the mechanics and outcomes.

Scenes of Parting

"Attention will be devoted in the first instance to small-scale privatization," Boris Yeltsin stressed when touching upon the economy in his programmatic speech to the RSFSR Congress of People's Deputies. Today we shall discuss how such privatization is going in Czechoslovakia.