Experts evaluate the varied outcomes of privatization experiences in Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, and the UK. The trend toward privatization, which began with privatization experiments in the UK under Margaret Thatcher and the deregulation of the telecommunications sector in the United States, has attracted the attention of policymakers over the past two decades. Privatization is broadly supported by most academic economists, but the results of actual privatization efforts seem mixed. In the UK, for example, telecom rates fell sharply after privatization, but privatized rail service was widely perceived to have declined dramatically in quality. In this CESifo volume, international experts examine the experiences of 10 EU countries, evaluating the real outcomes of privatization policies in Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, and the UK.The effects of privatization--which includes not only changes in ownership of public activitiesand entities but also liberalization of markets and deregulation--are difficult to distinguish from the effects of other economywide influences. The studies in this volume meet this methodological challenge by using a well-defined set of criteria, including reducing consumer prices, increasing quantity, and improving quality, by which to make their assessments. Background chapters provide a conceptual framework for considering the issues. Contributors Pablo Arocena, Sean D. Barrett, Ansgar Belke, Michel Berne, Henrik Christoffersen, Andrea Goldstein, Günter Knieps, David Newbery, Martin Paldam, David Parker, Gérard Pogorel, Friedrich Schneider, Eric van Damme, Ingo Vogelsang, Johan Willner

This book provides a much needed quantitative response to the classic question of whogains and who loses in trade liberalization and shows how important the process is for the globaleconomy. It contributes significantly to the debate concerning trade between developed anddeveloping countries.John Whalley describes and uses a numerical general equilibrium model of worldtrade to explore issues in the area of trade liberalization among major world trading areas - theEuropean Economic Community, the United States, Japan, and developing countries. His book is uniqueboth in using this framework to analyze world trading patterns, and in considering a number oftrading areas simultaneously within the same model. It is able to quantify the merits of alternativeactions in international trade policy, the ways that the interests of the EEC, the United States,and Japan are similar and ways in which they differ, and show how the interests of less developedcountries are affected by various trade liberalization initiatives.Part I provides a description ofthe model, data sources and adjustments to basic data, and methods for specification and solution ofthe model. Part II presents results from model applications along with policy conclusions.Applications include analysis of tariff cutting formulae in the Toyko Round, an evaluation of theTokyo Round trade agreement, examination of incentives for a retaliatory trade protection 'war'between world trade blocs, and analysis of the impact of protectionist policies on North-Southtrade.John Whalley is Professor of Economics at the University of Western Ontario.

The central idea underlying this work is to convert the Walrasian general equilibrium structure (formalized in the 1950s by Kenneth Arrow, Gerard Debreu and others) from an abstract representation of an economy into realistic models of actual economies.