Public Enterprise in Less Developed Countries

This volume consists of papers chosen from the Boston Area Public Enterprise Group Conference that was held in 1980.

Leroy P. Jones (Author)

9780521102919, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 19 March 2009

368 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.1 cm, 0.54 kg

This volume consists of papers chosen from the Boston Area Public Enterprise Group Conference that was held in 1980 and concentrated on public enterprises in less-developed countries. The Boston Area Public Enterprise Group is composed of scholars dedicated to understanding the public enterprises operating in the world's mixed economies. Public enterprises are government-owned firms that sell goods or services in a market. Involved in public production for private consumption, they are a hybrid of government and private enterprise. Thus, an analysis of public enterprise requires insights from economics, management, political science and law. Each of these disciplines is represented in addressing the following questions: Why public enterprise? Who should control public enterprise? How are decisions made in practice? How do public enterprises behave in international markets? How does risk and uncertainty alter public enterprise decisions'? How are incentive structures to be designed'? How do public enterprises compare with other public policy tools for dealing with particular problems'? The contributions combine theory and practice in analysing a variety of less-developed countries.

1. Introduction Leroy P. Jones
Part I. Why public enterprise?: 2. Role of economic factors in determining the size and structure of the public-enterprise sector in less developed countries with mixed economies Leroy P. Jones and Edward S. Mason
3. Political economy of public enterprise Muzaffer Ahmad
Part II. Principal-agent relationships: Who should control public enterprise?: 4. State-owned enterprise: An agent without a principal Yair Aharoni
5. Social accountability of public enterprises: law and community controls in the new development strategies John B. Howard
Part III. How are decisions made in practice?: 6. Comparing state enterprises across international boundaries Janet Kelly Escobar
7. Decision structure, technological self reliance, and public enterprise performance V. V. Bhatt
8. Labor-management conflict resolution in state owned enterprises: a comparison of public- and private-sector practises in India Bruce Vermeulen and Ravi Sethi
Part IV. How do public enterprises behave in international markets?: 9. State owned enterprises in the world economy: the case of iron ore Raymond Vernon and Brian Levy
10. Changing patterns of ownershipand integration in the international bauxite-aluminum industry Dani Rodrik
11. Public enterprise and manufactured exports in less developed countries: institutional and market factors determining comparative advantage Leroy P. Jones and Lawrence H. Wortzel
Part V. How does risk alter public-enterprise decisions?: 12. Hierarchical structure and attitudes toward risk in state-owned enterprises Pankaj Tandon
13. Public-enterprise finance: towards a synthesis Malcolm Gillis, Glen P. Jenkins and Donald R. Lessard
Part VI. How are incentive structures to be designed?: 14. Performance indices for public enterprises J. Finsinger and I. Vogelsang
15. Public enterprise versus regulation when costs are uncertain Michael Manove
Part VII. How does public enterprise compare with other intervention mechanisms in overcoming particular problems?: 16. Public enterprise versus other methods of state intervention as instruments of redistribution policy: the Malaysian experience Richard Mallon
17. Mixed enterprises and risk sharing in industrial development J. M. Mintz.

Subject Areas: Economics [KC]