Privatisation of Socially Owned Enterprises, the Methods Used and the Impact on Economic Growth Empirical evidence from Kosovo

Abstract

Privatisation together with the related social consequences and impact on the economy represent key challenges facing the former communist countries. This paper aims to assess how the privatisation of socially owned enterprises (SOEs) affects economic growth, entailing an empirical test using a panel effects regression analysis on a sample of 571 SOEs (or 1,600 assets) over a 16-year period (2003–2018). We find that privatisation at the aggregate level does not boost economic growth; in particular, the methods used to privatise SOEs or parts of them are not a determining factor. We also show that the quality of institutions is fragile, confirming a negative associations with economic growth. We also show that the effects of privatisation vary according to the method used, although we note that the sale of SOEs or parts thereof in the first decade of privatisation has been quite selective, devoid of development effects and faced with serious impediments to privatisation funds being directly invested in the economy.