Reappraising State-Owned Enterprise: A Comparison of the UK and Italy

After a quarter century of almost general condemnation and rebuttal of the entire nationalization experience, it appears that there are second thoughts about governmental direct intervention in the economy. Since 9/11 the Western model has faced new ideological, institutional, and cultural challenges while the free-market economy no longer appears to be a universal panacea. Whatever the economic destiny of western civilization, however, does state-owned enterprise once again have a future?The collection of essays in this volume ' prepared by some of the leading authorities in the field ' offers a contribution to this debate by providing a balanced assessment of two of the most relevant experiences of mixed economies, the United Kingdom and Italy. As different as they are with regard to timing and background, a comparison between the two countries can nevertheless offer precious insights. At the general level it can throw new light on the motives, the directions, and the outcomes of nationalization. At the specific level, the essays have been conceived in order to allow a balanced comparison between the two experiences, especially for those sectors more affected by State intervention in the two countries (oil, energy, steel, shipbuilding) and to the nature of government's actions. No other volume offers such an insightful, detailed analysis of SOE performance and possibilities for other major European nations.