The analysis regarding the results of firms privatized mainly during the Eighties within competitive sectors confirms the superiority of private control. The comparison between suitable control samples shows an improvement in profitability associated to a clear progress in labour productivity. However, for many firms, this recovery was still insufficient to guarantee an active and lasting presence on the market.
This evolution questions the functioning of the market, the selectivity of the financial operators and the incentive system used in the past as an industrial policy tool.

We are grateful to L. Rondi, A. Sembenelli and D. Vannoni for their comments. We also acknowledge the assistance of D. Margon in processing data and S. Zelli and M. Zittino in helping us to collect data for the paper.