Synopsis:
This book is the first thorough audit of privatizations around the world. It shows how and where they have worked well, and where they have defeated their own aims - with serious impacts on public health, environmental sustainability, democratic accountability and the level of public service. It analyses the factors behind success or failure to establish criteria for future sell-offs, and argues for the fundamental importance of democratic governance of the privatization of publicly owned goods. The result is a book of major importance, challenging one of the orthodoxies of our day - a benchmark for future debate.
Review:
'In the golden days of the Washington consensus, privatization was viewed as one of the central pillars of successful development. Ideology and interests triumphed over economic theory and experience, both of which noted the difficulties posed by privatization and its limitations. Through a series of case studies, Weizscker and his colleagues illustrate the limits to privatization' JOSEPH E. STIGLITZ, winner of the Nobel Prize in economics and former chief economist and senior vice-president of the World Bank 'Detailed case analysis is the only way to ensure that we learn how to get privatization policies right. This book with a sound ethical foundation is an invaluable resource for policy-makers, trade unions, the business community and all who are interested in what should be publicly or privately owned' JUAN SOMAVIA, Director-General, ILO 'This timely new book is an important contribution as we explore the crisis in good jobs for working people the world over' JOHN SWEENEY, President for Public Affairs, AFL-CIO 'Indigenous peoples are among those caught in the cracks between public and private ownership. Territories and resources which we traditionally own have been systematically and immorally appropriated both by states or the private sector. This book presents solutions for balanced approaches to regulate privatization which otherwise threatens to endanger our continuing existence' VICTORIA TAULI CORPUZ, Executive Director, Tebtebba (Indigenous Peoples' International Centre for Policy Research and Education), Philippines
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