Template-type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Massimo Florio Title: Presentazione Abstract: Classification-JEL: Keywords: Note: Pages: Volume: 2003/2 Year: 2003 Issue:2 File-URL:http://www.francoangeli.it/riviste/Scheda_Rivista.aspx?IDArticolo=19496&Tipo=Articolo PDF File-Format: text/HTML Handle: RePEc:fan:epepep:v:html10.3280/Ep2003-002001 Number: 1 Template-type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Massimo Florio Title: Privatizzazioni e benessere: il caso britannico Abstract: The Welfare Impact of British Privatisations 1979-1997 (di Massimo Florio) - ABSTRACT:This paper draws from a research project (the ?Milan Privatisation Study?) that offers a comprehensive evaluation of the welfare impact of a policy usually regarded as highly successful and vastly imitated worldwide: the privatisation policy pursued in the UK by Mrs Thatcher?s government (1979-1990) and subsequently by Mr Major?s government (1990-1997). The paper considers the impact of privatisations on five types of agents: firms, employees, shareholders, consumers and tax-payers. The main conclusion of our study is that British privatisations had modest effects on the efficiency of production and consumption. On the other hand, privatisations did have important effects on the distribution of incomes and wealth. Thus the outcome of privatisation in the UK was not unambiguosly a Pareto improvement. Classification-JEL: Keywords: Note: Pages: Volume: 2003/2 Year: 2003 Issue:2 File-URL:http://www.francoangeli.it/riviste/Scheda_Rivista.aspx?IDArticolo=19497&Tipo=Articolo PDF File-Format: text/HTML Handle: RePEc:fan:epepep:v:html10.3280/Ep2003-002001a Number: 1 Template-type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: David Newbery Title: Che cosa pu? imparare l'Europa dalle privatizzazioni britanniche Abstract: What Europe Can Learn from British Privatisations (di David M. Newbery) - ABSTRACT:British privatisation shows the importance of creating and sustaining competition where possible and produced a model of efficient price cap regulation for the capital-intensive networks that would support private investment that is a useful model for managing public infrastructure. Although total UK privatisation receipts were about 8% of GDP, and their output accounted for 5% of GDP, a sustained productivity improvement of 10% would only increase GDP by 0.5% hard to observe even though it represents 100% return on the sales value. Electricity restructuring in England separated generation from transmission. Competition then drove down costs by 6% each year, while retained vertical integration in Scotland produced no net gains, underlining the importance of creating competitive markets. Classification-JEL: Keywords: Note: Pages: Volume: 2003/2 Year: 2003 Issue:2 File-URL:http://www.francoangeli.it/riviste/Scheda_Rivista.aspx?IDArticolo=19498&Tipo=Articolo PDF File-Format: text/HTML Handle: RePEc:fan:epepep:v:html10.3280/Ep2003-002002 Number: 2 Template-type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Catherine Waddams Price Title: L'impatto delle privatizzazioni sui consumatori britannici Abstract: The Impact of Privatisations on British Consumers (di Catherine Waddams Price) - ABSTRACT:The effect of British privatisations on consumers had not been widely researched, and the Milan study is a welcome addition. This paper considers some parts of the effect on consumers, drawing on complementary research, in particular seeking to distinguish the effects of introducing competition from other aspects of the reform process. The paper discusses the effect of increased price differentiation on different household groups, and particularly the effect on vulnerable households, as well as changes in expectations and in quality of service. The paper concludes that there has been an adverse effect on a small number of vulnerable consumers, but that it would not be wise to deprive others, including other low income households, of benefits to protect these groups. Such protection would be better delivered through an alternative instrument. Benefits and costs are likely to be specific to the particular circumstances of any reform programme, and are not necessarily transferable to other times, industries or countries. Classification-JEL: Keywords: Note: Pages: Volume: 2003/2 Year: 2003 Issue:2 File-URL:http://www.francoangeli.it/riviste/Scheda_Rivista.aspx?IDArticolo=19499&Tipo=Articolo PDF File-Format: text/HTML Handle: RePEc:fan:epepep:v:html10.3280/Ep2003-002003 Number: 3 Template-type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Robin Simpson Title: Molto rumore per nulla? La prospettiva delle associazioni dei consumatori Abstract: Much Ado about Nothing? (di Robin Simpson) - ABSTRACT: The apparent general conclusion of the Milan study is that the effect of privatisation in the UK was far less than one might expect, given the sound and fury that it generated. That would be the ?much ado about nothing? hypothesis. If it was indeed simply a matter of ownership, then the Milan study makes a powerful case for it; actually, it seems instead to vindicate the view that ownership was not the main issue. Infact, the privatisation programme was about far more. If one takes into account the changes in the regulatory framework, then I would argue that what we have seen represents very much more than a minor blip. The change of ownership was the context for those changes. This is of relevance not only to the UK but more widely, and so I draw on my overseas experience to illustrate why the issues raised during the privatisation of the British utilities are indeed of lasting significance. Classification-JEL: Keywords: Note: Pages: Volume: 2003/2 Year: 2003 Issue:2 File-URL:http://www.francoangeli.it/riviste/Scheda_Rivista.aspx?IDArticolo=19500&Tipo=Articolo PDF File-Format: text/HTML Handle: RePEc:fan:epepep:v:html10.3280/Ep2003-002004 Number: 4 Template-type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Jonathan Leape Title: Aspetti concettuali della valutazione dell'impatto sul benessere del programma britannico di privatizzazione Abstract: Conceptual Issues in Assessing the Welfare Impact of the British Privatisation Programme (di Jonathan Leape ) - ABSTRACT:Assessing the welfare impact of a policy on the scale of the British privatisation programme is a daunting task. Four sets of issues raised in the impressive study by Florio et al. of the British privatisation programme merit further discussion. One such set of issues relates to the different dimensions of underpricing in the privatisation programme. A second set relates to the welfare impact of one particular aspect of the privatisation programme: the sale of housing by local authorities. A third set of issues relates to taxation. It is argued here that there is evidence to suggest important interactions between the privatisation programme and tax policy over the period, with implications for the ultimate welfare impact of privatisation. A final set of issues relates to the role of the privatisation programme in redefining the broader debate over the delivery of public services and, in particular, the appropriate role of asset ownership. Classification-JEL: Keywords: Note: Pages: Volume: 2003/2 Year: 2003 Issue:2 File-URL:http://www.francoangeli.it/riviste/Scheda_Rivista.aspx?IDArticolo=19501&Tipo=Articolo PDF File-Format: text/HTML Handle: RePEc:fan:epepep:v:html10.3280/Ep2003-002005 Number: 5 Template-type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Elisabetta Bertero Title: Fa differenza un cambiamento, da pubblico a privato, dell'assetto proprietario? Abstract: Does a Change in the Ownership of Firms, from Public to Private, Make a Difference? (di Elisabetta Bertero) - ABSTRACT: The economic impact of privatisation is hard to assess. This paper extends the analysis of Florio (2002) in four directions. It argues that a welfare assessment of privatisation must include an evaluation of the performance of public enterprises in light of their originally broad set of objectives including, for example, the promotion of employment. It highlights the importance of financial pressure, independently of privatisation, in improving the performance of public firms. It goes on to discuss the potential role of supranational institutions in bringing about this pressure, and identifies the relevance of the 1976 IMF intervention in the UK. International empirical evidence is then presented in support of Florio?s argument that privatisation was not decisive in improving labour productivity. Finally, the paper argues that institutional differences across countries make cross-country analyses of privatisation problematic. Classification-JEL: Keywords: Note: Pages: Volume: 2003/2 Year: 2003 Issue:2 File-URL:http://www.francoangeli.it/riviste/Scheda_Rivista.aspx?IDArticolo=19502&Tipo=Articolo PDF File-Format: text/HTML Handle: RePEc:fan:epepep:v:html10.3280/Ep2003-002006 Number: 6 Template-type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Daniele Checchi Title: Privatizzazioni e lavoro: un commento Abstract: Privatisations and Labour Market: A Comment (di Daniele Checchi) - ABSTRACT: This contribution tries to contrast the empirical evidence reported by Florio and associates against theoretical predictions of theoretical models of imperfect competition in both product and labour market (Peoples 1998, Nicoletti-Scarpetta 2001, Blanchard- Giavazzi 2001). In particular it makes reference to the last papers, since its ability to distinguish between short and long run, and partial and general equilibrium. Classification-JEL: Keywords: Note: Pages: Volume: 2003/2 Year: 2003 Issue:2 File-URL:http://www.francoangeli.it/riviste/Scheda_Rivista.aspx?IDArticolo=19503&Tipo=Articolo PDF File-Format: text/HTML Handle: RePEc:fan:epepep:v:html10.3280/Ep2003-002007 Number: 7 Template-type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Roberto Pedersini Title: Le privatizzazioni nel Regno Unito: molto rumore per nulla? Abstract: Privatisation in the UK and the Social Actors (di Roberto Pedersini) - ABSTRACT: The article addresses some of the main issues raised by the seemingly upsetting result of Massimo Florio?s study: the net welfare benefits of the massive British privatisations are ambiguous and marginal at best. Does this mean that the overall results of the British privatisation process were in fact trivial? Much ado about nothing? The article argues that this very important result actually shows the need for further research efforts which go beyond the simplistic assumption that privatisation leads to straightforward economic and efficiency gains and should try to understand more deeply the logic of privatisation. The article suggests that the impact of privatisation has been substantial, even if it cannot be detected easily at the macro-level, and should be analysed at the micro-level, where the interplay between the renewed institutional framework and the changing actors? identities and strategies produces relevant transformations, both from the economic and social points of view. Classification-JEL: Keywords: Note: Pages: Volume: 2003/2 Year: 2003 Issue:2 File-URL:http://www.francoangeli.it/riviste/Scheda_Rivista.aspx?IDArticolo=19504&Tipo=Articolo PDF File-Format: text/HTML Handle: RePEc:fan:epepep:v:html10.3280/Ep2003-002008 Number: 8 Template-type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Martin Cave Title: Privatizzazione, profitti e mercato azionario Abstract: Privatisation, Returns and the Stock Market (di Martin Cave) - ABSTRACT: In this note, I intend first to offer a commentary on the very careful empirical work undertaken by Florio and Manzoni (2002), then to comment on the exercise undertaken five years ago by the UK Government to tax excess profits from privatisation, and then finally to discuss recent trends in returns and the capital structure of the privatised utilities. Classification-JEL: Keywords: Note: Pages: Volume: 2003/2 Year: 2003 Issue:2 File-URL:http://www.francoangeli.it/riviste/Scheda_Rivista.aspx?IDArticolo=19505&Tipo=Articolo PDF File-Format: text/HTML Handle: RePEc:fan:epepep:v:html10.3280/Ep2003-002009 Number: 9 Template-type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Robert Milward Title: Il programma di privatizzazione britannico: una prospettiva di lungo periodo Abstract: The British Privatisation Programme: A Long Term Perspective (di Robert Millward) - ABSTRACT: The British privatisations were concentrated on the infrastructure industries of transport, communications and energy. It is important to assess the efficiency impact in a long-term context. The Milan study goes some way towards this but even better is to compare different countries of the Western world over the whole period since 1945. A distinction is made here between 1945-73 and the 1973-95 period, which followed the oil shocks and ushered in a general phase of de-regulation and privatisation. It is suggested that factors like the reconstruction after the Second World War, the process of catch-up and convergence in technologies and the resource endowments of different countries had much bigger effects on productivity levels and growth rates in the infrastructure industries than the shift from nationalised to privatised regimes. This article also, more briefly, critically evaluates two other elements of the Milan study, the treatment of excess profits and of the move to more differentiated price structures. Classification-JEL: Keywords: Note: Pages: Volume: 2003/2 Year: 2003 Issue:2 File-URL:http://www.francoangeli.it/riviste/Scheda_Rivista.aspx?IDArticolo=19506&Tipo=Articolo PDF File-Format: text/HTML Handle: RePEc:fan:epepep:v:html10.3280/Ep2003-002010 Number: 10 Template-type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Diego Piacentino Title: Effetti distributivi e di efficienza delle privatizzazioni britanniche: un commento a The Great Divestiture di Massimo Florio Abstract: This paper is a comment on the Milan study on UK privatisations: I have no problem in recognizing that, in theory, a nationalised industry context may reproduce the results of privatisations as far as the organisational aspect, production and prices are concerned, and leave apart (even if not completely) the distributive effects. That would solve, in practice, a planning problem logically similar (on smaller, company-sectoral scale) to the one discussed in 1936-38 by Lange-Lerner. But in the reality, it seems to me that two kind of difficulties would emerge, on one hand concerning the logical framework of the process, making the calculation of the appropriate solution very very hard, and on the other hand concerning the modus operandi of economic interactions, so that the distributive action tends to retroact on incentives and so on organisation and industrial performance. Classification-JEL: Keywords: Note: Pages: Volume: 2003/2 Year: 2003 Issue:2 File-URL:http://www.francoangeli.it/riviste/Scheda_Rivista.aspx?IDArticolo=19507&Tipo=Articolo PDF File-Format: text/HTML Handle: RePEc:fan:epepep:v:html10.3280/Ep2003-002011 Number: 11 Template-type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Pippo Ranci Title: Note su privatizzazione e liberalizzazione Abstract: Notes on Privatisation and Liberalisation in Public Utilities (di Pippo Ranci) - ABSTRACT:Welfare effects of liberalisation can vary according to the type and effectiveness of regulation. The British case-study that is object of this research report is a case of good, competent, and strong regulation. Other countries are exploring their way. I am convinced that in the British case liberalisation has benefited significantly from a good regulation, which has included provisions for the quality of service and has provided energy markets with analytically grounded and incentive-oriented tariffs, and with clear and stable rules, so that markets develop and tariffs can be gradually phased out in all but naturally monopolistic activities. Classification-JEL: Keywords: Note: Pages: Volume: 2003/2 Year: 2003 Issue:2 File-URL:http://www.francoangeli.it/riviste/Scheda_Rivista.aspx?IDArticolo=19508&Tipo=Articolo PDF File-Format: text/HTML Handle: RePEc:fan:epepep:v:html10.3280/Ep2003-002012 Number: 12 Template-type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Massimo Florio Title: La privatizzazione di British Telecom Abstract: The Privatisation of British Telecom (di Massimo Florio) - ABSTRACT:In this paper we discuss new evidence on the performance of British Telecom before and after privatisation. We use a unique data set based on company accounts over forty years (1960-1999), and original data kindly provided by BT. For some output data we go back to 1915. We focus particularly on output, prices, revenues, costs, employment, productivity, profits and investments. Our key-finding is that operative profits were remarkably stable before and after divestiture, and that privatisation had no discernible impact on productivity trends. Major changes were however related to variations in financial arrangements and regulatory pressure. Classification-JEL: Keywords: Note: Pages: Volume: 2003/2 Year: 2003 Issue:2 File-URL:http://www.francoangeli.it/riviste/Scheda_Rivista.aspx?IDArticolo=19509&Tipo=Articolo PDF File-Format: text/HTML Handle: RePEc:fan:epepep:v:html10.3280/Ep2003-002013 Number: 13 Template-type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Jeremy Turk Title: Le telecomunicazioni britanniche: privatizzazione e dinamiche della cultura aziendale e industriale Abstract: British Telecommunications Plc: Privatisation and the Dynamics of Corporate and Industrial Culture (di Jeremy Turk) - ABSTRACT: In this response to the case-study of BT, it is explained how privatisation, competition and regulation form part of a complex system of industrial evolution. The paper examines the dynamics of BT culture, and seeks to draw out how privatisation has changed behaviour. It argues that the past fifteen years have been a period of experiment and learning that has greatly changed the culture of residual control. The net impact of these changes has been more favourable than the Milan study perhaps suggests. The importance of counterfactuals in carrying out cost/benefit analysis is underlined and it is emphasised that large scale policy choice must be understood in the context of a comparison of two imperfect institutional systems; no set of institutions is likely to achieve in practice all that can be imagined in theory. Classification-JEL: Keywords: Note: Pages: Volume: 2003/2 Year: 2003 Issue:2 File-URL:http://www.francoangeli.it/riviste/Scheda_Rivista.aspx?IDArticolo=19510&Tipo=Articolo PDF File-Format: text/HTML Handle: RePEc:fan:epepep:v:html10.3280/Ep2003-002014 Number: 14 Template-type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Alan Bell Title: Alcune riflessioni sul caso British Telecom Abstract: The British Telecom Case-History (di Alan Bell) - ABSTRACT: This contribution focuses primarily on the overall conclusions of the chapter about the British Telecom case-history, from a regulatory viewpoint. However, there are some specific points which deserve comment from a regulatory perspective. The key elements of the assessment of performance pre and post privatisation in this chapter focus primarily, though not exclusively, on productivity, prices and capital investment, and I will present some thoughts on each of these. My main concern is that privatisation should be seen as a package with other policies. It also reinforces my support for the conclusions that its impact alone is unlikely to be huge. Classification-JEL: Keywords: Note: Pages: Volume: 2003/2 Year: 2003 Issue:2 File-URL:http://www.francoangeli.it/riviste/Scheda_Rivista.aspx?IDArticolo=19511&Tipo=Articolo PDF File-Format: text/HTML Handle: RePEc:fan:epepep:v:html10.3280/Ep2003-002015 Number: 15