The Rise And Fall Of State-owned Enterprise In The Western World (Comparative Perspectives in Business History)

This book examines the rise and fall in the twentieth-century Western world of state-owned enterprises, a chief instrument of state economic intervention. It offers historical perspective on the origins and purpose of state-owned enterprises, their performance, and the reasons for their precipitate decline from their heyday in the 1960s to the waves of privatization in the 1980s and 1990s. Looking to the future as well as the past of state business, this book explores the concept of state-owned enterprise and its context in Western political economy, as well as the permutations and future prospects of the institution in practice. The contributors present studies of the development of state-owned enterprises in seven Western European countries and the United States. Frontmatter ......Page 1 Contents ......Page 7 Preface ......Page 9 Contributors ......Page 12 PART I - SETTING THE STAGE ......Page 15 1 - The Rise and Fall of Public Enterprise: The Framework ......Page 17 2 - The Decline of State-Owned Enterprise and the New Foundations of the State-Industry Relationship ......Page 39 3 - The Performance of State-Owned Enterprises ......Page 63 4 - The Role of the State in Economic Growth ......Page 87 PART II - NATIONAL CASES ......Page 115 5 - The Rise and Fall of State-Owned Enterprise in Germany ......Page 117 6 - Beyond State and Market: Italy's Futile Search for a Third Way ......Page 142 7 - State Enterprise in Britain in the Twentieth Century ......Page 171 8 - The Rise and Decline of State-Owned Industry in Twentieth-Century France ......Page 199 9 - The Rise and Decline of Spanish State-Owned Firms ......Page 222 10 - Fifty Years of State-Owned Industry in Austria, 1946-1996 ......Page 251 11 - A Reluctant State and Its Enterprises: State-Owned Enterprises in the Netherlands in the "Long" Twentieth Century ......Page 267 12 - State-Owned Enterprises in a Hostile Environment: The U.S. Experience ......Page 287 Conclusion: Schumpeter Revisited ......Page 317 Index ......Page 325 At the dawn of the twenty-first century the world economy is in the midst of the most profound transformation since the industrial revolution. Firms, communications systems, and markets for products, services, labor, and currencies are all breaking out of national boundaries. Comparative Perspectives in Business History explores these developments in a series of volumes that draw on the best work of scholars from a variety of nations writing on the history of enterprise, public and private.This book examines the rise and fall in the twentieth-century Western world of state-owned enterprises (SOEs), a chief instrument of state economic intervention. The authors offer historical perspectives on the origins and purpose of SOEs, their performance, and the reasons for their precipitate decline. The volume explores the theory of state business as well as the permutations and future prospects of the institution in practice. The contributors present studies of the development of state-owned enterprises in seven Western European countries and the United States. In recent times, the role and even the existence of public enterprise have been subjected to strong, often devastating criticism, both in economic-political literature and in sociopolitical debate. This text examines the rise and fall in the 20th century Western world of state-owned enterprises, a chief instrument of state economic intervention Edited By Pier Angelo Toninelli. Revised Papers From A Conference Held In Milan. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.