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THE ISSUES RAISED BY THE EXPERIENCE OF UTILITY PRIVATIZATION IN THE UK
Author(s) -
CORRY Dan
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
annals of public and cooperative economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.526
H-Index - 37
eISSN - 1467-8292
pISSN - 1370-4788
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-8292.1996.tb01910.x
Subject(s) - generality , shareholder , competition (biology) , public economics , business , economics , cohesion (chemistry) , market economy , finance , ecology , corporate governance , chemistry , management , organic chemistry , biology
** : The UK utilities have all had a change of ownership over the last decade and a half. Does it really change things and, if so, in what ways? In fact, very little research has been carried out on this much copied experiment and evidence on efficiency gains is not that strong. But two main things have emerged. First, regulation and competition are the key drivers of change. It may well be that privatization was needed in the UK to allow these things to happen. It does not follow, however, that in other industries, or other countries, change is dependent on privatization. Second, different groups gain and lose (in absolute and relative terms) from privatization. In the UK, shareholders and large consumers have gained far more than small consumers, ex‐employees and the tax payer. In particular, the fact that low‐income consumers have done less well than the generality of consumers raises important issues for social cohesion and for policy.