Ceris-CNR Working paper
11/2001Does the run-up of privatisation
work as an effective incentive mechanism?
Preliminary findings from a sample of Italian firms
Fabrizio Erbetta
(Ceris-Cnr)
October 2001
Abstract
The main viewpoint related to privatisation is concerned with the aim of verifying the presence of incentive mechanisms on the managerial behaviour. This paper, differently from other earlier studies on this topic, is aimed to study, with an econometric approach, the dynamic of economic performance in the years before privatisation, over a sample of Italian privatised firms in the last decade. The results show an interesting growth in the productivity levels in the four years preceding the shift from public to private ownership. This suggests that other mechanisms than property rights influence managerial efforts. The main source of such improvement can be attributed to the labour factor, in agreement with many theoretical and empirical studies.
Keywords:
Privatisation; Productivity; Panel data; Italian firms
JEL codes:
C23, D24, L32, L33
I would like to thank Giovanni Fraquelli, Luigi Benfratello, Loredana Favaro and Laura Rondi for their useful comments. I am also grateful to Silvana Zelli and Maria Zittino for their assistance in the arrangement of this paper.