Privatization Trends Research Articles

La idea de los bienes comunes en el sistema internacional: ¿renacimiento o extinción?

The idea of the common goods has experienced a revival in the last years, due especially to the studies made in the economic sciences and to the presence of intelectual creations. However, its existence in the international system is still being exiguous and controversial, mainly with reference to the global common spaces or resources, which seem to be exposed to the global trends of privatization and commercialization. This paper will be concerned with the clarification of the question, to what extent this international system admits the idea of the common goods in global resources, and if it is suitable to speak of their revival at this level.

The role of private armed forces in the traditional concepts of security

Seen from a historical point of view, security and defense have always been tasks mostly dealt with by state institutions (police, armed forces and intelligence services). The state's monopoly over the instruments of force has visibly 'weakened' in the past two decades, largely as a result of the privatization trend permeating all areas of modern society. After the end of the Cold War, private military companies have started to extensively provide professional military services, both to developing countries and industrialized countries. These services range from strategic, tactical and technological advice, training and logistical support, to providing exclusively military (combat) services to governments of various countries, multinational corporations, international organizations, non-government agencies and other non-state actors. Private military companies are certainly not a transient phenomenon or occurrence; on the contrary, they will be very important providers of private military services in the future. In this regard, the paper generally and systematically examines the role of private military companies and armed forces, in the traditional concepts of both national and international security, with special overview of their historical development.

Business improvement districts in New York: the private sector in public service or the public sector privatized?

Business improvement districts (BIDs) are dominant economic development tools in North America today, with more than 1500 in place in the United States and Canada alone. BIDs are place-based private–public partnerships created for the purpose of enhancing local economies through the provision of member defined services and infrastructure. The 67 BIDs in operation in New York City today collectively control more than $100 million in revenue. This article considers the implications of differences in BID structure for their ability to serve the interests of members, places, and the broader urban public of the city writ large. The key finding is that while BIDs in New York are reflective of privatization trends, they do not always benefit the public that they serve.

The making of Maoist model in post-Mao era: The myth of Nanjie village

Bucking the general trend of privatization in China, the model village of Nanjie has cultivated the image of a “small zone of communism,” a modern-day commune that practices extreme measures of egalitarianism. Such an image is promoted by some Party leaders at the center as well as local cadres, and bolstered by the spectacular display of the village's wealth. With the aid of fieldwork data, our research examines the claims of “success,” “egalitarianism,” and the attribution of “success” to “egalitarianism.” We find that the village's early rise to prosperity took place before the celebrated Maoist practices were introduced, and that its later rapid development was an artifact of politically awarded state loans. We then examine the “actually existing Maoism” by uncovering the capitalist labor relations between the local villagers and the hired laborers, and the political inequality among the village's own legal residents. We conclude by examining the political processes that gave rise to this star village in the post-Mao era.

Privatization Trends and Major Deals in 2012 and 1H2013

Privatization Trends and Major Deals in 2012 and 1H2013

The Transnationalisation of Commercial Law

Commerce always requires an institutional embedment. Basically, private Institutions as well as state institutions can provide the normative good of legal certainty understood as the enforceability of contractual commitments. While for domestic commerce, the balance between the importance of private and state institutions is almost equal, economic globalization leads to a decrease in the relative weight of public institutions and to a corresponding increase in the overall importance of private institutions for international commerce. This trend of internationalization and privatization of responsibility for the provision of legal certainty combine to what we call the transnationalisation of commercial law.Drawing on five case studies, in this paper we try to explain why today private institutions are of greater importance for cross-border transactions than state or multinational institutions. One the one hand, the first two studies show that there is no real practical need for multinational institutions for cross-border commerce. First, the modern information and communication technology strengthen the effectiveness of reputation-based mechanisms — relational contracts and reputational networks — for the safeguarding of cross-border transactions. Second, vertical integration in general and intra-firm trade in particular offer effective alternatives to market exchange. One the other hand, some private institutions can offer more than safeguarding commercial transactions as they can guarantee to a certain extent a respect of fairness and public policy issues. In maritime law, the third case study, it can be shown that private actors can achieve a fair arrangement for all stakeholders by allowing them to participate in the process of norm-formation in a transparent process. The fourth study in international commercial arbitration shows that international arbitration courts respect national mandatory rules and produce new transnational mandatory rules. However, the transnationalisation of commercial law leads to the trend of the vanishing trial: National Courts register less commercial disputes which does not come without cost. The fifth case study explains possible reasons for the decreasing number of commercial cases in German courts.

The Political Economy of Publication

The globalized economy, fueled by late capitalism, has pressed forward its necessity for accumulation and expanding growth into the information and knowledge economy. One result has been the privatization of essentially public knowledge, knowledge produced at public universities, often with public, federal dollars. Both the "mania for ranking academic institutions," where universities compete for students, tuition dollars, and external funding, and the incessant creep of the managerial "audit culture" contribute to this situation. Although there is little individual scholars can do to resist globalization and capitalist forces, understanding the context into which their research is circulated can suggest opportunities for sharing research results between the "center" and "periphery" that counter some of the privatization trends.

Privatization Trends and Major Deals in 2010 and 1H2011

This article details major privatization deals executed during 2011 and the first half of 2012 and surveys trends shaping the privatization landscape worldwide. We document several important facts, including the following: Governments raised only $94.4 billion (€68.2 billion) through privatization sales during 2011, less than half the record $213.6 billion (€159.9 billion) raised during 2010; Share issue privatizations (SIPs) accounted for roughly half (47%) of this total - far lower than usual and the three-quarter share of world privatizations SIPs accounted for in 2010 - though 2011’s largest deal was the $8.70 billion (€6.13 billion) AIG seasoned equity offering in May; China regained its traditional position as the country that raised more proceeds [19 deals worth $14.2 billion (€10.2 billion)] through privatization sales than any other, followed by Australia, the United States, Russia, and Ireland - the leading EU privatizer of 2011; The €19.5 billion ($26.4 billion) raised by EU governments represented only 27.9% of the worldwide total, far lower than the long-run average EU share of 43.0% and; (5) there were an exceptionally large number of failed, withdrawn, and cancelled privatization sales - worth at least $34.6 billion (€26.1 billion) - during 2011 due to the emergence of the Eurozone sovereign debt crisis and the resulting freeze-up of global financial markets.

Privatization Trends and Major Deals in 2009

What a year 2009 was for privatization worldwide! One year after witnessing massive injections of government capital into financial systems, 2009 saw a record volume of state sales of corporate equity - or, stated more accurately, a record volume of corporate repurchases of government-owned shares. Privatization proceeds totaled a record €184.30 billion ($265.17 billion) during 2009, but bank repurchases of government holdings of preferred shares accounted for €118.46 billion ($168.8 billion) of this record - or almost two-thirds of the total. Besides the bank share repurchases, the global value of 'classic' privatization deals during 2009 totaled only €65.84 billion ($96.29 billion), the lowest such tally since 2004. For the first time ever, the United States was the world’s largest privatizer during 2009, and the €98.70 billion ($140.10 billion) paid to the U.S Treasury by American banks to redeem TARP equity capital injections accounted for over half of the global privatization total for 2009. During the last half of 2009, European banks also redeemed €18.73 billion ($28.75 billion) worth of preferred shares that had been purchased by governments as part of rescue packages during 2008 and early 2009. As in previous years, China led the world in the value of non-bank privatization deals during 2009, with 79 transactions that raised €20.27 billion ($28.05 billion). The second largest non-bank privatizer was also not a surprise: Russia executed 6 transactions and raised €6.59 billion ($9.12 billion), mostly accounted for by three large asset sales.

Discrimination across the Sectors: A Comparison of Discrimination Trends in Private and Public Organizations

Differences and similarities between public and private sector organizations have been hypothesized and researched for several decades. This study investigated the differences in claims of employment discrimination reported for employees within the private and public sectors. A longitudinal database of statewide discrimination claims was analyzed to determine if differences in employment discrimination patterns or levels exist between the sectors. Theoretical and practical implications are presented in addition to propositions for future research.

Third sector involvement in public education: the Israeli case

PurposeThe purpose of this article is to address the involvement of third sector organizations in state public education in Israel, with emphasis on the decision‐making processes affecting the geographic distribution of service provision.Design/methodology/approachA collective case study approach was used to investigate non‐governmental organization (NGO) procedures for the deployment of the educational services they provide. The study was based on semi‐structured interviews with key personnel and on documents from four NGOs operating in the Israeli public education system.FindingsThe article illustrates the extent of third sector organizations' involvement in the Israeli public educational system, in most cases operated with significant governmental funding. The findings reveal two main factors in the NGOs' decision‐making process that affect their operational deployment: the type of financing model they adopted and the nature of their relationship with the Ministry of Education.Practical implicationsThe paper's findings have led to several policy recommendations. It recommends that NGOs be more aware of their financing model and more critical in its appraisal. It also recommends that the state take into account the vision and financing model of NGOs and its own strategic responsibility for reaching nationwide social goals when selecting partners.Originality/valueThe study examines the increasing involvement of NGOs in state public education. As trends of privatization and democratization continue, the number of NGOs operating in the public education system continues to rise, and their importance continues to increase.

Privatization Trends and Major Deals of 2011 and 1H2012

Privatization Trends and Major Deals of 2011 and 1H2012

Privatization and Accountability

Privatization has become a dominant feature of twenty-first century governance, creating concerns about diminished accountability and oversight. However, to properly evaluate such concerns or respond to them, we must distinguish between two different forms of accountability: accountability as after-the-fact redress and accountability as managerial oversight. Moreover, each of these forms of accountability may be pursued through a variety of mechanisms or processes, including not only criminal or civil lawsuits but also reform of the contracts that are the engine of privatization; increased public participation in the design, award, and monitoring of contracts; and changes to the organizational structure or institutional culture of contractor firms. Accordingly, this review lays out a taxonomy for analyzing privatization so that we can more comprehensively evaluate both the impact of privatization and the efficacy of possible responses. In addition, the review highlights recent privatization trends in the military and foreign aid arenas, the potential impact of such privatization on core values, and possible responses.

Cultivating a Constituency for Conservation

Cultivating a Constituency for Conservation

Global Banks as Global Sustainability Regulators?: The Equator Principles

Banks might now seem odd candidates for the role of global sustainability regulator. Nonetheless, in limited areas of their operation, where global banks kept risk on their balance sheets and were financially exposed to many types of risk often otherwise treated as “externalities,” banks began to enact policies to encourage what they construe as “sustainable” banking. A small number of these banks have started to extend these principles of responsible action more broadly, across many of their business lines, as conditions of lending to their corporate clients. To this extent, it is possible to talk about (some) global banks as global sustainability regulators. The “law of unintended consequences” as used in the legal literature almost always refers to the unintended negative consequences of a regulation or policy. In this article, however, we discuss a potentially positive unintended consequence of the deregulatory and privatization trend of the 1980s and 1990s that was fueled by neoliberal political commitments: some private banks have taken a leadership role in regulating development. Specifically, these banks are enacting policies that attempt to mitigate the potentially negative social and environmental consequences of infrastructure development in politically unstable or environmentally fragile landscapes. The vehicle for doing this is a voluntary agreement called the Equator Principles (EPs). The article describes and analyzes the EPs and reports the initial results from an interview-based study of the various EPs stakeholders, including bankers, government officials, lawyers, consultants, and critics from nongovernmental organizations. We address—from the perspective of these stakeholders—such questions as why the participating banks decided to join the EPs, what effects, if any, the EPs are having on development practice, and whether the EPs will ultimately prove to be more than a public relations exercise.

Reflections on Private Water Supply: Agency and Equity Issues

In the second of the two articles, the authors reflect on and extend their earlier work by describing recent trends in water privatization, drawing important lessons from cases where privatization efforts have failed, offering suggestions about the way privatized firms can be successfully monitored, and addressing the popular argument that “fairness” demands that water be distributed by public firms at a zero (or heavily subsidized) price.

Privatization Trends and Major Deals in 2010

This article details major privatization deals executed during 2010 and the first half of 2011 and surveys trends shaping the privatization landscape worldwide. We document several important facts, including the following: (1) Governments raised a record $213.6 billion (€159.9 billion) through privatization sales of common stock in state owned enterprises during 2010; (2) Share issue privatizations (SIPs) accounted for over three-fourths of this total, and included history’s largest ever stock offering and the largest corporate security offering of any kind - the $70 billion (€52.4 billion) Petrobras seasoned equity offering - and the largest initial public offerings in world and U.S. financial history, the $22.1 billion (€16.5 billion) IPO of Agricultural Bank of China and the $20.1 billion (€15.0 billion) General Motors IPO, respectively; (3) For the second year running, the United States raised more proceeds through privatization sales than any other country, followed by China, Brazil, France, Turkey, Poland, India, and the U.K. and; (4) The €33.1 billion ($44.2 billion) raised by EU governments represented only 20.6% of the worldwide total, far lower than the long-run average EU share of 43.6%, but European sales may well surge during 2011-12 in response to fiscal challenges.

Reconsidering Privatization in Cross-Border Engagements: The Sometimes Public Nature of Private Activity

Privatization trends in higher education have typically been analyzed from the perspective of the institution and its relationship with the sponsoring state. The recent phenomenon of international cross-border higher education, however, represents a more complicated picture of privatization. Geographic separation from the sponsoring state is an extraordinary from of privatization in the public sector. At the same time, host countries may look to the international branch campus to achieve public ends. This paper examines the concept of privatization through cross-border educational initiatives, and argues that the public and private nature of cross-border higher education can only be fully understood when considering the relationship with the home and host countries. The analysis is based on comparisons of how governments in Qatar and the Malaysian state of Sarawak use foreign education providers to support government goals, and how those seemingly public purposes problematize traditional concepts of privatization.

Employment Protection Laws and Privatization

Do employment protection laws hinder privatization? Using privatization deals in fourteen European countries from 1977-2003 and within-country variation in employment protection laws, we find that stringent employment protection laws significantly deter privatization. The fear of job cuts apparently leads organized labor in the state-owned enterprises to vehemently oppose privatization. We find that stringent employment protection laws inhibit privatization disproportionately more in industries that are less productive and require lower level of job skill, consistent with the fear of retrenchment being greater in the less-productive and low-skilled sectors. We also find that stringent employment protection laws inhibit privatization disproportionately more in unionized industries, consistent with the fact that workers in these industries exert considerable political pressure. To obtain these results exploiting inter-industry differences, we use industry-level measures for the United States as an instrument to alleviate potential endogeneity concerns. We employ panel regressions that include fixed effects to control for unobserved factors at the country, industry and year levels. We also examine specifications including country-specific and industry-specific trends to account for spurious correlations stemming from such trends in privatization and in enacting employment protection laws. Our results are also robust to controlling for endogenous changes in employment protection laws due to: (i) changes in a country’s government, specifically adopting or rejecting a left-of-center political stance; (ii) trade liberalization; and (iii) country-level economic growth.

Marble and Granite Waste: Characterization and Utilization in Concrete Bricks

M arble and granite industry has grown significantly in the last decades with the privatization trend in the early 1990s, and the flourishing construction industry in Egypt. Accordingly, the amount of mining and processing waste has increased. Stone waste is generally a highly polluting waste due to both its highly alkaline nature, and its manufacturing and processing techniques, which impose a health threat to the surroundings. Shaq Al-Thuban industrial cluster, the largest marble and granite industrial cluster in Egypt is imposing an alarming threat to the surrounding communities, Zahraa El-Maadi residential area, and the ecology of the neighboring Wadi Degla protectorate. The objective of this paper is to utilize marble and granite waste of different sizes in the manufacturing of concrete bricks, with full replacement of conventional coarse and fine aggregates with marble waste scrapes and slurry powder of content up to 40%. The produced bricks are tested for physical and mechanical properties according to the requirements of the American Standards for Testing Materials (ASTM) and the Egyptian Code. The test results revealed that the recycled products have physical and mechanical properties that qualify them for use in the building sector, where all cement brick samples tested in this study comply with the Egyptian code requirement for structural bricks, with granite slurry having a positive effect on cement brick samples that reach its optimum at 10% slurry incorporation.