Beyond Bureaucrats in Business : a critical review of the World Bank approach to privatization and public sector reform

This paper provides a critical review of the World Bank Policy Research Report, Bureaucrats in Business , commenting on its position relative to the previous reports in the series and on the new privatization synthesis—the theoretical basis underlying the Bank's approach. The detailed critique focusses on three main areas of the Report: the narrow analytical framework which inevitably supports predetermined conclusions; the selective and biased use of evidence which ignores possible alternative interpretations—particularly the influence of country‐specific factors; and the narrow view of industrial policy which leads to inappropriate policy prescriptions. Copyright © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.