Description
Book SynopsisDuring the last decade, privatization, understood here as the transfer of state-owned enterprises to the private sector, has become a widespread phenomenon among formerly socialist and mixed economies. It has been touted as a quick route to growth and prosperity in countries suffering from bloated, inefficient, and debt ridden public sectors.
The contributors to this book, drawn from a number of social science disciplines, explore the various ways in which privatization programs affect workers in the reforming countries. The book includes an examination of how privatization impacts on labor economically, by changing the level and conditions of employment, as well as its influence on wages, benefits, and social services. A second section looks at the political effects of privatization on workers, focusing on the strength and militancy of trade unions and their relationship to political parties.
The essays, written by scholars as well as policy practitioners, cover both post-socialist countries, including Russia, China, and Eastern Europe, and the developing regions - the Middle East, sub-Saharan Africa, and Latin America. Scholars and students in economics and political science as well as policymakers will find this collection a welcome addition to the literature on privatization.
Trade Review'. . . this book makes a significant contribution to the debate about controversial privatisation issues and industrial policy responses to them. . . Privatization and Labor
is an engaging and informative analysis of some of the most important and controversial privatisation issues, even when it is not completely persuasive.' -- Jung-Won Kim, Asia Pacific Business Review
'The book, which consists of very interesting research and experiences on privatisation and deregulation from different parts of the world, is, ultimately, an extremely useful handbook in studying the effects of the current economic hegemony.' -- M. Kemal oke, South-East Europe Review
Table of ContentsContents: 1. Introduction 2. Unions in Transition: Why Organized Labor Embraced Economic Reform in Poland (1989–1999) 3. Egyptian Labor Struggles in the Era of Privatization: The Moral Economy Thesis Revisited 4. The Political Element in Economic Reform: Labor Institutions and Privatization Patterns in South Asia 5. Enterprise Reform and Labor in North Africa 6. Public Sector Downsizing: An Introduction 7. Privatization and Employment: Some General Issues 8. Ironies and Obstacles to China’s Post-Socialist Housing Privatization 9. Provision of Social Benefits by Russian Enterprises: Managers’ Behavior and Motivations 10. The Political Economy of Pension Reform: Poland and Hungary 11. Labor and the Politics of Human Capital Accumulation Index
