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Murray Rothbard's For a New Liberty, originally published in 1973, remains one of the most significant books on libertarianism, in large part because he explains how market institutions can replace [...]

Over the past three decades, the privatization of prisons has accelerated and expanded to include undocumented immigrants. This paper builds upon the assertions that immigrant detention has become increasingly privatized and disproportionately affects low-income Latino communities. I examine how the social marginalization of transgender undocumented Latina immigrants has created conditions that facilitate their subjugation within the government and private immigrant detention infrastructure. Understanding how racism, xenophobia, transphobia, and sexism operate within society is imperative to dismantle the human rights violations of the immigrant detention infrastructure. I conclude by reviewing current policy efforts to strengthen the rights of detained transgender Latina immigrants. Keywords: Latinas; undocumented immigrants; transgender; detention centers, Introduction: Criminalization of Undocumented Immigration The prison industrial complex describes both the rapid expansion of the US inmate population as well as the political influence of private prison companies and [...]

While there exists a large literature characterizing the political determination of the size of the government, much less attention has been paid to the political determination of the scope of government (i.e., what activities are undertaken by public rather than private entities). While there are economic costs and benefits to privatization, there is also a political benefit to incumbents: by privatizing today, politicians transfer future revenues (when they might not be in office) to the present. This political benefit leads to overprivatization. We show that this political benefit persists even if politicians are able to borrow against public assets. We analyze the relationship between privatization and the political environment, as well as complete a normative analysis of the costs and benefits to society of allowing politicians to privatize assets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews the recent empirical evidence on privatization in developing countries, with particular emphasis on new areas of research such as the distributional impacts of privatization. Overall, the literature now reflects a more cautious and nuanced evaluation of privatization. Thus, private ownership alone is no longer argued to automatically generate economic gains in developing economies; pre-conditions (especially the regulatory infrastructure) and an appropriate process of privatization are important for attaining a positive impact. These comprise a list which is often challenging in developing countries: welldesigned and sequenced reforms; the implementation of complementary policies; the creation of regulatory capacity; attention to poverty and social impacts and strong public communication. Even so, the studies do identify the scope for efficiency-enhancing privatization that also promotes equity in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The privatization in Macedonia is considered to be the finally found form of establishment of the interrupted evolution of the ownership. Of course, this is from the aspect of introduction and functioning of the state ownership in the socialistic system which denied the title of ownership. From the chosen model of paid privatization, it was expected that the privatization will be carried out lawfully, fairly, justly, relatively fast and transparently. This paper analyses the process of privatization from the aspect of its lawful performance and its fairness as consequential effect. The analysis specifically refers to one of the five segments of the privatization process-the privatization of socially-owned enterprises. Subject to this analysis are the views and opinions of employees and managers, as well as those of the government officials on issues whether the privatization is implemented as a political process and whether privatization is realized as a robbery. The results of the analysis can be summarized twofold: the employees and the politicians see the privatization as a political process and robbery, while the managers deny any connection with politicians and do not consider themselves oligarchs. In the analysis, these results are compared with some objective parameters of privatization: (i) the funds raised from the sale of social capital and (ii) proceedings initiated in front of state and judicial authorities based on suspicions of crime in the privatization process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

B. Reconceptualizing the "Lesson of BP" A second level of scholarly commentary suggests that, even assuming arguendo that the private compensation fund pays out a reasonable level of compensation, claimants [...]

Aims To estimate changes in liquor sales occurring in Washington, USA and bordering states following the privatization of government controlled liquor stores. Design Trend analyses of data from January 2009 to October 2014 of a natural experiment beginning 1 June 2012, when liquor prices increased and the number of stores selling liquor increased in the state of Washington. Difference-in-differences (DID) models and interrupted time-series methods were used. Setting Washington and bordering counties in Oregon and Idaho. Measurements Monthly liquor sales in 9-l cases. Findings DID model estimates of adjusted change in liquor sales as a result of privatization produced a cross-model average increase of 10.1% in Oregon and 8.2% in Idaho (both P < 0.001). Similar results were found using interrupted time-series. This represents a total loss to Washington of 89 865 l of liquor, 0.226% of total Washington sales, for June 2012 to May 2013. Adding these sales to Washington totals for fiscal years 2013 and 2014, we find that per-capita spirits sales were 5.80 l in both 2012 and 2013, declining slightly to 5.76 l in 2014. Conclusions The privatization of liquor sales in the state of Washington, USA in 2012 and the price increases associated with this resulted in a significant increase in sales in bordering counties in the states of Oregon and Idaho. However, the amount of alcohol sales and revenue lost by Washington was relatively small. Per-capita liquor sales in Washington appear to have remained flat after privatization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Privatisation has occupied the attention of theorists of different disciplines. Yet, despite the multiplicity of perspectives, the typical arguments concerning privatisation are instrumental, relying heavily on comparing the performance of a public functionary with that of its private counterpart. This article challenges this approach for leaving unaddressed other important consequences of shifting responsibilities to private entities. More specifically, privatisation cuts off the link between processes of decision-making and the citizens, and therefore erodes political engagement and its underlying notion of shared responsibility. The effects of privatisation are not restricted to the question of whether public prison is better or worse qua prison than its private counterpart or whether private forestry is better or worse qua forestry than its public counterpart. Rather, they extend to whether stripping the state of its responsibilities erodes public responsibility. For privatisation is not only the transformation of detention centres, trains, tax inquiry offices, forestry operations and so on, considered one service at a time. It is also the transformation of our political system and public culture from ones characterised by robust shared responsibility and political engagement to ones characterised by fragmentation and sectarianism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explains changes in the literature on urban water privatization in low- and middle-income countries and demonstrates the need for a revised research agenda. Since the Great Recession, privatization practice has subtly evolved, but scholarship has been slow to follow. This period of shallow growth is characterized by phenomena that have gone largely understudied: direct negotiation between private firms and cities, the greater role of domestic firms, privatization by coproduction, and a new geography. This study proposes a typology for planners to assess whether and where different forms of privatization may enhance water service in this new era. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

To authenticate to the full-text of this article, please visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9957.2009.02147.x Byline: TOSHIHIRO MATSUMURA (1), DAISUKE SHIMIZU (2) Abstract: We investigate a mixed economy where state-owned public enterprises compete against private firms. We examine sequential privatization of public enterprises, and find that under plausible assumptions one privatization increases the welfare gains of the subsequent privatizations. Thus, even if privatization does not improve welfare at the early stages, it can eventually lead to a point such that privatizations after that point are beneficial to the society and the privatization program ends up with a success. Author Affiliation: (1)Institute of Social Science, University of Tokyo (2)Faculty of Economics, Gakushuin University

To authenticate to the full-text of this article, please visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2427.2009.00849.x Byline: DAANISH MUSTAFA (1), PHILIP REEDER (2) Keywords: Belize; Caribbean; privatization; globalization; urban water supply; neoliberalism; identity; colonialism; discursive formation; social power Abstract: Abstract This article presents the findings of an extensive survey on public and policy level perceptions of the failed water supply and sanitation system privatization in Belize City. Drawing upon the burgeoning critical geographical literature on the commodification and privatization of water, we formulate a conceptual framework for analyzing the ethnographic data on perceptions and experience of privatization by Belize City water users. The experience of water supply privatization was largely negative. Residents complained bitterly about an increase in water tariffs and excessive disconnection rates by the privatized Belize Water Supply Limited (BWSL). Many policy makers also accused BWSL of front-loading profits and not making strategic investments in infrastructure. But the symbolic significance of water privatization for the residents of a small Caribbean country like Belize exceeded its practical implications. We argue that the major themes to emerge from the ethnographic data collected for the study can be synthesized into three 'popular privatization narratives' (PPNs). The first was based on the perception that poor governance led to privatization; the second on a preference for national- over global-scale politics, so that objections to privatization were based on nationalism; the third on angst about losing control to the systemic compulsions of neoliberal globalization. Overall the privatization process not only had important (largely negative) material consequences for Belizeans but, given their historical and cultural geography, profound discursive and symbolic consequences for their sense of identity in a condition of neoliberal globalization. Resume Cet article presente les resultats d'une vaste enquete sur les impressions, de la population et des acteurs des politiques publiques, concernant l'echec de la privatisation du reseau d'approvisionnement en eau et d'assainissement de Belize City. Utilisant les publications geographiques critiques qui se multiplient sur la marchandisation et la privatisation de l'eau, un cadre conceptuel est formule pour analyser les donnees ethnographiques sur les impressions et l'experience de la privatisation emanant des usagers de l'eau de Belize City. L'experience de cette privatisation a ete en grande partie negative. Les habitants se plaignent amerement de l'augmentation des tarifs et de taux de coupures excessifs par la societe privee Belize Water Supply Limited (BWSL). De nombreux decideurs politiques ont egalement accuse BWSL de prelever les benefices sans effectuer d'investissements strategiques d'infrastructure. Toutefois, la place symbolique de la privatisation de l'eau pour les habitants d'un petit pays de la mer des Antilles comme Belize depasse les incidences pratiques. Les principaux themes dessines par les donnees ethnographiques collectees peuvent se resumer en trois 'recits populaires de la privatization'. Le premier repose sur l'impression que la faiblesse de la gouvernance a conduit a la privatisation; le deuxieme sur une preference pour une politique a l'echelon national plutot que mondial, de sorte que les objections a la privatisation etaient liees au nationalisme; le troisieme sur l'angoisse de perdre la maitrise des pressions systemiques exercees par la mondialisation neoliberale. En general, le processus de privatisation a eu des consequences materielles importantes (en grande partie negatives) pour les Beliziens mais aussi, etant donnee la geographie historique et culturelle nationale, de profondes implications discursives et symboliques sur leur sens de l'identite dans un contexte de mondialisation neoliberale. Author Affiliation: (1)Department of Geography, King's College London, Strand, London, UK (2)Department of Geography, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA Article note: Daanish Mustafa (daanish.mustafa@kcl.ac.uk), Department of Geography, King's College London, Strand, London, WC2R 2LS, UK and Philip Reeder (preeder@cas.usf.edu), Department of Geography, University of South Florida, 4202 E. Fowler Ave, NES 107, Tampa, FL, 33620,USA.

In this article, I look at the apparent contradiction of Paraguayan peasants who live on privately titled homesteads but who oppose the 'privatization' of their land. The changes against which they are fighting are massive upheavals in the peasant landscape and subtle legal shifts that undermine the basis for land redistribution. I argue that the problem with privatizing the private reveals an underlying tension in liberal theories of property between a conception of a right as an abstract relation between people and one in which a right is a relation between people that is mediated, and troubled, by the frailty of material things. [Paraguay, property law, land reform, peasant movement, liberalism, privatization, agrarian transition]

International good governance orthodoxy proposes a set of step-by-step governance reforms as a necessary component of development. However, this orthodox view is more a reflection of persistent myths of development than of its realities. Living examples of this are found in contemporary China and Vietnam. In these two authoritarian one-party states, much international orthodoxy of good governance reform and practice is deliberately contradicted in the reform and opening-up process. In uncovering the underlying political logic of persistent “lag” in governance reforms in Vietnam and China, we observe examples of leapfrogging and retro-fitting, rather than orderly sequencing of governance reforms. The case of rapid marketisation of public service delivery is used to illustrate the arguments. The lesson is clear: good governance can come later. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract The article is based on longitudinal fieldwork with reindeer herders in the Kola Peninsula. northwest Russia. Its main ethnographic focus is SKhPK 'Tundra' (sel'sko khoziastvennaia proizvoditel'naia kooperatsiia--agricultural producing cooperative) [...]

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2006.07.003 Byline: Sarah Horton Keywords: Health disparities; Health care safety net; Private sector reforms; Street-level bureaucrats; Clinician productivity; Latinos; USA; Privatization Abstract: The US Institute of Medicine's (IOM) influential 2003 report has focused attention on disparities in treatment outcomes and health status for American minorities, zeroing in on the role of unconscious bias in the unequal clinical disposition of minority patients. In keeping with the IOM's focus, current examinations of health disparities in the US tend to explore bias in clinical decision-making to the neglect of the political economic trends that buffet health care safety net sites and create the need for financial shortcuts. This paper recontextualizes the study of health disparities in the US by placing it against the backdrop of private sector trends emphasizing fiscal austerity and increased workforce productivity in health care. The social science literature on workers in human service bureaucracies, only recently applied to health care workers, suggests that higher demands for system 'accountability' and worker 'efficiency' may encourage providers to take shortcuts by treating individuals as mass categories. This ethnography of a Latino mental health clinic in the Northwestern USA shows that new private-sector measures of 'productivity' take a toll on both the Latina clinicians whose invisible work subsidizes the system as well as on particular categories of patients -- the uninsured and immigrants with serious psychosocial issues. While clinicians attempt to buffer the impacts of such reforms on patients, they also resort to means to increase their productivity such as firing repeated no-show patients and denial of care to the uninsured. This study is relevant for the health care of the poor in all health care systems considering restructuring along managerial principles to increase system 'efficiencies.' Author Affiliation: University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA

The author analyzes the welfare effects of privatization in a mixed duopoly model in which the wage rate for the privatized firm is determined by Nash bargaining beforehand. The evaluations are based on three-stage privatization frameworks respectively under two regimes: Cournot competition and a public firm acting as a Stackelberg leader. The author finds that the optimal degrees of privatization from the viewpoint of social welfare may be different for various types of competition. The article also shows that even optimal privatization set by a welfare-maximization government may not guarantee welfare improvement, owing to the interference of wage bargaining. (JEL D60, D78, L32, L33), I. INTRODUCTION Ever since 1980 there has been a wave of privatization by public enterprises sweeping over the whole world. The main motivation behind this move is to enhance the [...]

This paper is concerned with subaltern actions providing alternatives to development practice. I use Ghana's attempt at urban water privatization to illustrate that Ghana's development practice is characterized by a dependence on foreign sources of capital and expertise that illustrates a psyche and mindset of Eurocentrism associated with the elite and decisionmakers of the country. The rationale for water privatization, the how of privatization, and the anti-development opposition to privatization not only demonstrate this dependency but also the extent to which decisionmakers are willing to sacrifice sovereignty and culturally sensitive ways of doing things, to global capital, in exchange for development funds. In the state's zeal for Western or Occidental development, subalterns in Ghana have devised hybridities that are post-traditional and Oriental in nature to solve their water problems. These development solutions are couched within structures provided to human agency and suggest that development practice should therefore listen to subalterns in terms of how they imagine and solve their problems. The concern with subaltern voices shows the relationship between postcolonial studies and development practice. KEY WORDS: Ghana, subaltern, development practice, water privatization, Eurocentrism, post-traditional, postcolonial

This article presents empirical data from household level studies and anthropological field research regarding the economic and normative outcomes of privatization of pastoral land among a Samburu community in Kenya. The privatization of land in Samburu fits neither the optimistic scenario of property rights theorists nor the gloomy forecasts of those who favor communal ownership in pastoral areas. While many households experienced gains from privatization this was due to the particular ways in which the process of land tenure change proceeded and how agriculture was integrated into their pastoral livelihood. Local level norms have emerged that reinforce the value of land ownership for residents and discourage land sales, effectively preserving the pastoral way of life. Key words--Africa, Kenya, property rights, social norms, privatization, pastoralism

The ruling African National Congress (ANC) in South Africa would embrace privatization due to the shortage of cash and relentless international pressure. This has created problems between the South African governing alliance and ANC, as privatization has led to the disconnection of electricity and water for thousands of impoverished households.

The paper discusses reforms that impact China's state-owned enterprises (SOEs). Privatization is at the heart of some political and organizational tension surrounding the latest reforms.

This article proposes a method for conceptualising the way lawmaking has ebbed away from our national parliamentary-governmental complexes: horizontally, towards unelected officials, in a process of bureaucratisation; vertically, towards the EU, in a process of Europeanisation; and laterally, towards private actors that are left to regulate themselves, in a process of privatisation. The combined effect has been to diffuse lawmaking across many very diverse actors that interact in dense constellations across a 3 D governance space described by these axes. The descriptive innovation of analysing these processes together points also to a common normative challenge; that of finding new ways to legitimate the outer reaches of this governance space, furthest removed from our traditional constitutional structures and the reasonably neat (electoral) lines of accountability they offer back to us. A tentative solution is proposed in creatively rethinking administrative and constitutional law while remaining faithful to the philosophical core of classical constitutionalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An analysis of panel data on individuals in a random selection of urban households in Ethiopia reveals large, sustained, and unexplained earnings gaps between public and private and formal and informal sectors over 1994–2004. At the same time, we find, first, that the rate of mobility increased in the two pairs of sectors. Sample transitions rates grew across survey waves, while state dependence in sector choice decreased. Second, the correlation between sector choice and earnings gaps increased over the same period. In particular, the correlation between comparative earnings and selection into the informal sector was high throughout the survey decade and increased in magnitude over the second half of the period. These results suggest that Ethiopia's urban labor markets might be integrating. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article surveys the historiography on the privatization of public services and government-owned business enterprises since the 1970s. The author highlights the scholarly debate about whether privatization was an economic necessity or a political choice. Issues considered include the partial privatization of the municipal water utility of Berlin, Germany, Berliner Wasserbetriebe (BWB), and its implications for the management of other municipal corporations, public-private partnerships in the administration of social security benefits, and the social and political consequences of privatization.

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Issues concerning the social, political, and economic forces that impact the nature of citizenship are examined. Topics include the neoliberal corporate culture, consumerism, the commodification of youth, and the use of the prison system as a solution to social problems associated with youth.

The author examines how risk is managed in the contracting of human services to the poor and the social insecurity effect of states privatizing such services.

Research indicates that Russian women have inadequate knowledge concerning their labor rights, but even in instances where awareness is high, women fear that insistence on corporate observance of those rights will provoke retaliatory measures. Examples of private firms' attempts to circumvent labor policy legislation are outlined.

Russia's informal economic sector is explored, focusing on the decreasing rights of women as newly private companies ignore hiring and firing policies implemented under state ownership. Recommendations to reverse this trend include revision of small-business tax policy, revival of assistance programs such as those of the mid-1990s, establish support systems for self-employment, and improve registration procedures.

The authors respond to criticism of an article they wrote by scholar Michael Gentile on the subject of privatization, unemployment and mortality. The authors attempt to address a criticism concerning the alleged counter-intuitive nature of their central argument concerning the relationship between rapid privatization and short-term adult mortality. The article argues that mass privatization in former Soviet economies was unsuccessful and resulted in increasing unemployment, an increase in the use of alcohol, and stress-related mortality. The authors attempt to address Gentile's criticisms concerning their coding of privatization, particularly in their treatment of Estonia.

This qualitative comparison of two welfare-to-work organizations, one private and for-profit,one nonprofit, examines the influence of state performance contracts on managers' responses to welfare service provision and on clients' employment outcomes. Despite organizational theories that suggest that the mandates of state performance contracts and state monitoring may prompt agencies to become increasingly similar to each other, this analysis finds that the differing organizational logics of for-profit and nonprofit service couple with the behaviors of managers to lead to starkly different organizational structures, processes, and client employment outcomes [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the last decade there has been considerable international mobilisation around shrinking the role of States in health care. The World Bank reports that, in many low and middle-income countries, private sources of finance comprise the largest share of total national health expenditures. Private sector health care is ubiquitous, reaches throughout the population, preferred by the people and is significant from both economic as well as health perspective. Resources are limited, governments are weak, and a new approach is needed. This paper provides a broad overview and raises key issues with regard to private health care. The focus is on provision of health care by private medical providers. On the background of the world's common health problems and interventions available to tackle them, the place of private health care in the overall context is first discussed. The concept of privatisation within the various forms of health care systems is then explained. The paper then describes the genesis and key elements of rapidly enhancing role of the private sector in health care and points to the paucity of literature from low and middle-income countries. Common concerns about private health care are outlined. Two illustrative examples tuberculosis, the top infectious killer among the poor and coronary heart disease, the top noninfectious killer among the rich are presented to understand the current and possible role of private sector in provision of health care. Highlighting the need to distinguish between health care as a public good or a market commodity, the paper leaves it to the reader to draw conclusions. Keywords: Private sector; Public health; Health care; Tuberculosis; Heart disease

This article analyses the formulation and implementation of a relatively new statutory programme of care services for dependent elderly people in Israel, which has as a basic characteristic the supply of services by nonstate agencies. The analysis serves as a basis for an exploration of the effects of privatisation and the emergence of quasi-markets upon the functioning of the welfare state both as a benefits provider and as a major employer. In contrast to the perspectives that consider privatisation as leading to the weakening of the state in the welfare domain, we argue that through the transfer of services supplied by non-state agencies the state protects itself from demands and pressures from clients, while maintaining its control and regulation capabilities. This process decreases the state's accountability towards its citizens, enhancing in turn its autonomy. Privatisation policies do not imply, therefore, the dissolution of the welfare state, but rather the emergence of a new mode of state intervention.