Reverse privatization and new government reforms: a review of theory and evidence

Privatization has been an important aspect of government reform for several years. The last decades of the 20th century witnessed a profound experiment to increase the role of markets into the government service delivery. But, this experiment has failed to deliver adequately on efficiency, and then led to a setback and sudden reversal of a government policy. However, reverse privatization process is not a return to the direct public monopoly delivery model of the past. Instead it heralds the emergence of a new balance position which combines use of markets to reach efficient decisions. This paper describes both theory and evidence of the reverse privatization in selected countries.