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The British Approach to Privatisation
Author(s) -
Myddelton D. R.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
economic affairs
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.24
H-Index - 18
eISSN - 1468-0270
pISSN - 0265-0665
DOI - 10.1111/ecaf.12063
Subject(s) - government (linguistics) , competition (biology) , state (computer science) , conservative government , state government , business , market economy , economics , labour economics , economy , economic policy , political science , law , politics , linguistics , ecology , philosophy , algorithm , computer science , biology , incentive
Thirty or so years after the 1945–51 Labour government nationalised the ‘commanding heights’ of the British economy, these enterprises were collectively losing the equivalent of £2 billion annually in today's money. In 1979 a Conservative government embarked on a programme of privatisation which handed out hefty inducements to managers, employees and investors and yielded total net proceeds of nearly £70 billion over 18 years. The introduction of competition (as well as regulation) reduced overstaffing and strike threats in state‐run industries and eliminated most of the losses.