This study empirically investigates the impact of privatisation on firm performance in the global oil and gas industry, where questions of resource control have regained widespread attention. Using a dataset of 60 public share offerings by 28 National Oil Companies it is shown that privatisation...

A citizen and a bureaucrat implement a project jointly, with the bureaucrat holding executive authority. The citizen's investment yields information, which raises output, and also has supervision benefits. We show that a higher degree of dishonesty increases the citizen's incentive to invest,...

Twenty countries around the world have used $27 billion in incentives such as bonus shares and discounts to attract retail investors to participate in privatizations and to discourage them from flipping. Our results show that incentives have performed well, increasing retail investor...

Stock market capitalization in developed countries grew while massive privatization plans were in progress. It is however possible that stock market development would have occurred anyway. Below we identify features that are specific to share-issue privatizations (SIPs) and should a priori...

The theoretical and empirical literature on water supply and sewerage liberalization is reviewed in this paper in order to discuss the potential for market creation and private sector involvement in this sector. The analysis is framed in the quot;policy roadmapquot; developed by regulatory...

Despite the emergence of contracts between governments and private actors involved in public services, a critical issue is how to enforce payments based on outcomes such as student learning or prisoner recidivism. Imperfect measurement may fail to reflect changes in outcomes that were caused by...

To date, the discussion about what can be done in response to the global COVID-19 pandemic to blunt the economic, social, and psychological costs has largely focused on government bolstering small businesses through loans and grants, softening the effects of unemployment through unemployment...

This paper analyses the shifting balance between public sector and private sector welfare provision in the United Kingdom over the past two decades. Five sectors - education, health, personal social services, housing, and income maintenance and social security - are examined over three time...

A new reality is emerging in the public sector: state governments are spending an untold amount of tax dollars on public contracts that are performed overseas. Although the private sector has offshored jobs for decades, state governments have only recently become part of the offshoring...

Sub-Saharan Africa has received tens of billions of dollars in foreign aid over the last fifty years yet economic development has remained elusive. In many countries absolute poverty has increased and life expectancy has declined. Karol Boudreaux and Paul Aligica argue that the results of...