It is argued that New Zealand's privatisation programme is unlikely to meet its main overt objective of easing fiscal problems. In the case of sales of major public utilities, neither allocative, internal nor social efficiency are likely to be enhanced either. A brief history, and calendar, of the asset sales programme is provided.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
ArrowK.J. (1986) “Agency and the Market”, in ArrowIntriligator (eds) Handbook of Mathematical Economics iii, Amsterdam, North-Holland.
2.
AtkinsonS.E.HalvorsenR. (1986) “The Relative Efficiency of Public and PrivateFirms in a Regulated Environment: The case of US electric utilities”, Journal of Public Economics, 29, pp. 281–94.
3.
Auditor-General (1987) Report of, for year ending 31st March 1987, Government Printer, Wellington.
4.
AverchHJohnsonL.L. (1962) “Behaviour of the Firm under Regulatory Constraint”, American Economic Review. 52, pp.1052–69.
5.
BaileyE.E. (1981) “Contestability and the Design of Regulatory and Anti-trust Policies”, American Economic Review, 71, pp. 178–203.
6.
BaumolW.J.PanzarJ.C.WilligR.D. (1982) Contestable Markets and the Theory of Industrial Structure, Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, New York.
7.
BaumolW.J.KlevorickA.K. (1985) “Input Choices and Rate of Return Regulation: An overview of the discussion”, Bell Journal of Economics and Management Science, 1, pp. 162–90.
8.
BaumolW.J. (1987) “Natural Monopoly and Contestable Market Analysis”, in GillieA.LevacicR.ThompsonG.Politics and Economic Policy, Open University Press, Milton Keynes.
9.
BoardmandA.E.ViningA. R. (1989) “Ownership and Performance in Competitive Markets: A comparison of the performance of private, mixed and state owned enterprises”, Journal of Law and Economics, 32, pp. 1–33.
10.
BorcherdingT.E.PaunerchneW.W.SchneiderF. (1982) “Comparing the Efficiency of Private and Public Production: The evidence from five countries”, Zeitscrift für Nationalökonomie, supplement 2, pp. 127–56.
11.
BostonJ. (1988) Public sector reform in New Zealand: from corporatization to privatization, PSA conference paper.
12.
BrittanS. (1986) “Privatization: A comment on Kay and Thompson”, Economic Journal, 95, pp. 33–8.
13.
BrockW. A. (1983) “Contestable Markets and the Theory of Industrial Structure: Areview article”, Journal of Political Economy, 91, pp. 1055–66.
14.
Budget (1988) Sale of Government business — principles and proceduresGovernment Printer, Wellington, Annex 4 to Part II.
15.
CavesD. W.ChristiansenL. R. (1980) “The Relative Efficiency of Public and Private Firms in a Competitive Environment: The case of Canadian railroads”, Journal of Political Economy, 88, pp. 958–76.
16.
CheungS.N.S. (1978) The Myth of Social Cost, Hobart Paper 82, Institute of Economic Affairs, London.
17.
CollinsS. (1987) Rogernomics: is there a better way?Pitman, Wellington.
18.
Commerce Commission (NZ)(1992) Telecommunications Industry Inquiry Report, Government Printer, Wellington.
19.
CrainM.W.ZardkoohiA. (1977) “A Test of the Property Rights Theory of the Firm: Water utilities in the United States”, Journal of Law and Economics, 14, pp. 149–65.
20.
DalzielP.LattimoreR. (1991) A Briefing on the New Zealand Macroeconomy, Oxford University Press, Auckland.
21.
Department of Trade and Industry (1987) The Competitive Environment for State Owned Enterprises, DTI, Wellington.
22.
Economic Development Commission (NZ)(1989) Privatising State Owned Enterprises, EDC, Wellington.
23.
FareR.LoganJ. (1985) “The Relative Performance of Publicly-Owned and Privately-Owned Electric Utilities”, Journal of Public Economics, 26, pp. 89–106.
24.
FershtmanC. (1990) “The Interdependence between Ownership Status and Market Structure: The case of privatization”, Economica, 57, pp. 319–28.
25.
FinsingerJ.HammondE.M.TappJ. (1985) Insurance: competition or regulations comparative study of the insurance markets in the United Kingdom and the Federal Republic of Germany, IFS Report Series, Institute for Fiscal Studies, London.
26.
Foreman-PeckJ.WatersonM. (1985) “The Comparative Efficiency of Private and Public Enterprise in Britain: Electricity generation between the World Wars”, Economic JournalSupplement, pp. 83–95.
27.
ForsythP.J. (1984) “Airlines and Airports: Privatisation, competition and regulation”, Fiscal Studies5–1, pp. 61–75.
28.
GiedrojcJ. (1989) Privatisation: the New Zealand approach, unpublished research paper, Victoria University of Wellington.
29.
GravelleH.S.E.KatzE. (1976) “Financial Targets and X-efficiency in Public Enterprises”, Economic Journal, 90, pp. 243–65.
30.
Hansard (NZ) (1991) Income from State Asset Sales (as at 30/9/91), reply by Minister for SOEs to a question by Jim Anderton.
31.
HealdD. (1984) “Privatisation: Analyzing its appeal and limitations”, Fiscal Studies5–1, 1984, pp. 36–46.
32.
HelmD.YarrowG. (1989) “The Assessment: The regulation of utilities”, Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 4–2, pp. i–xxxi.
33.
HemmingR.MansoorA.M. (1988) Privatization and Public Enterprises Occasional Paper No. 56, International Monetary Fund, Washington.
34.
HenryC. (1989) Microeconomics for Public Policy: helping the invisible hand, Clarendon, Oxford.
35.
MorganJarden (NZ) (1988) Ownership and Regulation, Paper prepared for the Electricity Industry Task Force, Treasury, Wellington, October.
36.
JonesL.P.TandonP.VogelsangI. (1990) Selling Public Enterprise: a cost-benefit methodology, MIT Press, Cambridge, Mas.
37.
KayJ. A.MayerC.ThompsonD.J. (1986) Privatisation and Regulation: the UK experience, Clarendon, Oxford.
38.
LipseyR.G.LancasterK. (1956–7) “The General Theory of the Second Best”, Review of Economic Studies, 24, pp. 11–32.
39.
MascarenhasR.C. (1982) Public Enterprise in New ZealandNZ Institute of Public Administration, Wellington.
40.
MayerC.P.MeadowcroftS.A. (1985) “Selling Public Assets: Techniques and financial implications”, Fiscal Studies6–4, pp. 42–55.
41.
McCannE. (1988) “Budget Deficits and Asset Sales”, University of Canterbury, Discussion Paper, No. 8809.
42.
McKinlayP. (1987) Corporatisation: the solution for state-owned enterprises? (2nd edn) Institute of Policy Studies, Wellington.
43.
McKinlayP. (1992) Corporatisation of Power Boards: public policy issues relevant to initial ownership for the NZ Local Government Association, McKinlay-Douglas Ltd, Wellington.
44.
MeyerR.A. (1975) “Publicly Owned versus Privately Owned Utilities: A policy choice”, Review of Economics and Statistics17, pp. 391–9.
45.
MillwardR. (1982) “The Comparative Performance of Public and Private Ownership”, in RollLord (ed) The Mixed Economy, proceedings of section F (economics) of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, Salford 1980, Macmillan, London.
46.
New Zealand Business Round Table (1992) The Public Benefit of Private Ownership: the case for privatisationNZ Business Round Table, Wellington, June.
47.
PappsI. (1975) Government and Enterprise: an analysis of the economics of government regulation or control of industryInstitute of Economic Affairs, London.
48.
PescatriceD.R.TrapaniJ.M. (1980) “The Performance and Objectives of Public and Private Utilities Operating in the United States”, Journal of Public Economics, 13, pp. 259–76.
49.
PintE.M. (1991) “Nationalization vs. Regulation of Monopolies: The effects of ownership on efficiency”, Journal of Public Economics, 44, pp. 131–64.
50.
PrimeauxW.J. (1977) “An Assessment of X-efficiency Gained Through Competition”, Review of Economics and Statistics, 59, pp. 105–8.
51.
PrykeR. (1983) “The Comparative Performance of Private and Public Enterprise”, Fiscal Studies3–2, pp. 68–81.
52.
PrykeR. (1981) The Nationalised Industries: policies and performance since 1968, Martin Robertson, Oxford.
53.
PrykeR. (1971) Public Enterprise in Practice: the British experience of nationalisation over two decades, MacGibbon and Kee, London.
54.
ReesR. (1986) “Is there an Economic Case for Privatization?”, Public Money, 5, pp. 19–26.
55.
ReutenG.WilliamsM. (1989) Value-form and the State: the tendencies of accumulation and the determination of economic policy in capitalist society Routledge, London and New York.
56.
SappingtonD.E.M.StiglitzJ.E. (1987) “Privatization, Information and Incentives”, Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 6, pp. 567–82.
57.
SavasE.S. (1982) Privatizing the Public Sector: how to shrink government Chatham House, New Jersey.
58.
SavasE.S. (1977) “An Empirical Study of Competition in Municipal Service Delivery”, Public Administration Review, Nov/Dec, pp. 717–24.
SchererF. (1988) “Corporate Takeovers: The efficiency arguments”, Journal of Economic Perspectives, 2, pp. 69–82.
61.
SeedP. (1992) Draft Research Proposal for Applying Option Pricing Theory to Public Policy Evaluation: appraising corporatisation and privatisation policies in New Zealand, Wellington, 27/4/92.
62.
SheshinskiE. (1986) “Positive Second-Best Theory”, in ArrowIntriligator (eds), Handbook of Mathematical Economics iii, North-Holland, Amsterdam.
63.
SinghA. (1975) “Takeovers, Economic Natural Selection and the Theory of the Firm”, Economic Journal, 85, pp. 497–515.
64.
SOE Advisory Unit (NZ)(1990) Briefing Papers to the Minister of SOEs, Wellington, 27/10.
65.
ThomasJ.C. (1975) The Decline of Ideology in Western Political Parties: a study of changing policy orientations, Beverly Hills.
66.
Treasury (NZ)(1991) Investments and Advances, Financial Statements of the Government of New Zealand, Note 8.
67.
VickersJ.YarrowG. (1988) Privatisation: an economic analysis, MIT Press, Cambridge, Mas.
68.
VickersJ.YarrowG. (1986) Privatisation and Natural Monopolies, Public Policy Centre, London.
69.
WilliamsonO.E. (1990) Industrial Organisation, London, Edward Elgar.
70.
YunkerJ.A. (1975) “The Economic Performance of Public and Private Enterprise: The case of US electric utilities”, Journal of Economics and Business, 28, pp. 60–7.