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Liberalization-privatization paths: policies and politics

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  • Filippo BELLOC
  • Antonio NICITA
Abstract
We empirically investigate the political determinants of deregulation policies in six network industries of thirty OECD countries, over 1975-2007. Contrary to previous literature, we unbundle privatization and liberalization policies and measure whether their simultaneous determination is affected by government’s ideology. Despite conventional wisdom, we find a systematic political trade-off between privatizations and liberalizations. Right-wing executives tend to privatize more and to liberalize less, relative to left-wing governments. The main lesson we derive is that ideological cleavages affect the composition of deregulation policy. Our results may shed new lights on the political-economic rationale behind deregulation choices.

Suggested Citation

  • Filippo BELLOC & Antonio NICITA, 2011. "Liberalization-privatization paths: policies and politics," Departmental Working Papers 2011-32, Department of Economics, Management and Quantitative Methods at Università degli Studi di Milano.
  • Handle: RePEc:mil:wpdepa:2011-32
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Filippo Belloc & Antonio Nicita & Pier Luigi Parcu, 2011. "Deregulating Telecommunications in Europe: Timing, Path-Dependency, and Institutional Complementarities," RSCAS Working Papers 2011/47, European University Institute.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Liberalization; Privatization; Network Industries; Partisanship;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • L50 - Industrial Organization - - Regulation and Industrial Policy - - - General
    • P16 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Capitalist Economies - - - Capitalist Institutions; Welfare State
    • C23 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models

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