The privatization of the public industrial enterprises in Pakistan

Abstract

Examines the case for the privatization of public industrial enterprises in Pakistan, where the term "privatization' is defined as a transfer of ownership from the public to the private sector. Compares the efficiency levels in public and private enterprises producing similar goods. Corrects a popular misconception by showing that as some public enterprises showed losses, most of them made sufficiently large profits, and that their high rates of profit cannot be attributed to the high rates of protection. Argues that privatization may not lay the foundation of the so-called people's capitalism in view of low incomes of the workers and the practice of insider-trading in the stock exchanges of Pakistan. At any rate, the value-added by the public industrial enterprises is such a small proportion of the Gross Domestic Product that not many growth points can be added on account of privatization. -from Authors