When should we privatize government industries?

Tyler Cowen is an economist from George Washington University and a libertarian. Thus, you would expect his answer to this question would be ‘always’. In a recent Bloomberg article discussing whether to privatize government assets (e.g., USPS), he makes a more nuanced argument. First, for consumer goods, it is nearly always good to privatize. Cowen…

NHS Privatization

The Guardian reports that the UK considering privatizing sections of the National Health Service (NHS): A Treasury-commissioned report yesterday recommended measures to chop £6bn from public services budgets over the next two years, with further measures intended to save £15bn a year by 2013. It calls for a shake-up of “back office” administrative and support…

The Perils of Petrocracy

Can a state run petroleum company be as efficient as a private sector company? The answer is a resounding, “yes but…” It is possible that state-run petroleum companies can be efficient as long as they stick to the business of producing oil. Yet Tina Rosenberg’s “The Perils of Petrocracy” article in the N.Y. Times Sunday…