IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/hpe/journl/y2011v197i2p87-110.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Can Governments signal commitment in privatization sales?

Author

Listed:
  • Bruno Viani

    (University of Peru)

Abstract

The literature on staggered privatization sales suggests that governments can effectively signal commitment to not expropriate the future rents of privatized firms. The privatization of telephone firms around the world provides an excellent opportunity to test this theory. Using a sample of repeated privatization sales I test whether governments can effectively signal commitment by selling ownership gradually and transferring managerial control immediately. The use of panel data with fixed-effects provides consistent estimates when commitment is not observed and time-invariant. Unobserved commitment is rendered time-invariant by using repeated sales within a government administration, typically within two years. The results cast doubt on the ability of governments to effectively signal commitment and increase the market value of firms in privatization sales. These results hold for several signals tested.

Suggested Citation

  • Bruno Viani, 2011. "Can Governments signal commitment in privatization sales?," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 197(2), pages 87-110, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:hpe:journl:y:2011:v:197:i:2:p:87-110
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.ief.es/comun/Descarga.cshtml?ruta=~/docs/destacados/publicaciones/revistas/hpe/197_Art4.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Carmen M. Reinhart & Kenneth S. Rogoff & Miguel A. Savastano, 2003. "Debt Intolerance," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 34(1), pages 1-74.
    2. Massimo Florio & Katiuscia Manzoni, 2004. "Abnormal returns of UK privatizations: from underpricing to outperformance," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(2), pages 119-136.
    3. Perotti, Enrico C. & van Oijen, Pieter, 2001. "Privatization, political risk and stock market development in emerging economies," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 43-69, February.
    4. Ravi Ramamurti, 1992. "Why are Developing Countries Privatizing?," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 23(2), pages 225-249, June.
    5. Bruno Viani, 2007. "Monopoly rights in the privatization of telephone firms," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 133(1), pages 171-198, October.
    6. Nakil Sung & Yong-Hun Lee, 2002. "Substitution between Mobile and Fixed Telephones in Korea," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 20(4), pages 367-374, June.
    7. Levitt, Steven D, 1994. "Using Repeat Challengers to Estimate the Effect of Campaign Spending on Election Outcomes in the U.S. House," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 102(4), pages 777-798, August.
    8. Jones, Steven L. & Megginson, William L. & Nash, Robert C. & Netter, Jeffry M., 1999. "Share issue privatizations as financial means to political and economic ends," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(2), pages 217-253, August.
    9. Bel, Germa, 2003. "Confidence building and politics in privatization: some evidence from Spain," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 78(1), pages 9-16, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bortolotti, Bernardo & Fantini, Marcella & Siniscalco, Domenico, 2004. "Privatisation around the world: evidence from panel data," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(1-2), pages 305-332, January.
    2. Carla Vieira & Ana Paula Serra, 2006. "Abnormal Returns in Privatization Public Offerings: The case of Portuguese firms," Notas Económicas, Faculty of Economics, University of Coimbra, issue 23, pages 6-34, June.
    3. Enrico C. Perotti & Luc Laeven & Pieter van Oijen, 2000. "Confidence Building in Emerging Stock Markets," William Davidson Institute Working Papers Series 366, William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan.
    4. Massimo Florio & Katiuscia Manzoni, 2004. "Abnormal returns of UK privatizations: from underpricing to outperformance," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(2), pages 119-136.
    5. Laura Cabeza García & Silvia Gómez Ansón, 2012. "What Drives the Operating Performance of Privatised Firms?," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 59(1), pages 1-27, February.
    6. Wolfgang Aussenegg, 1999. "Going Public in Poland: Case-by-Case Privatizations, Mass Privatization and Private Sector Initial Public Offerings," William Davidson Institute Working Papers Series 292, William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan.
    7. Chotiphun Tiaviwat, 2020. "Examining the Determinants of Privatization: The ASEAN Context," Journal of Public Administration and Governance, Macrothink Institute, vol. 10(2), pages 370397-3703, December.
    8. Omrane Guedhami & Jeffrey A. Pittman, 2006. "Ownership Concentration in Privatized Firms: The Role of Disclosure Standards, Auditor Choice, and Auditing Infrastructure," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(5), pages 889-929, December.
    9. Bel, Germà & Trillas, Francesc, 2005. "Privatization, corporate control and regulatory reform: the case of Telefonica," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 25-51, February.
    10. Vaaler, Paul M. & Schrage, Burkhard N., 2007. "Residual State Factors, Policy Stability and Financial Performance Following Strategic Decisions by Privatizing Telecoms," Working Papers 07-0102, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, College of Business.
    11. A. Marra & V. Carlei, 2014. "Institutional Environment And Partial Privatizations: Policy Implications For Local Governments," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 85(1), pages 31-52, March.
    12. Bortolotti, Bernardo & de Jong, Frank & Nicodano, Giovanna & Schindele, Ibolya, 2007. "Privatization and stock market liquidity," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 297-316, February.
    13. Bruno Biais & Enrico Perotti, 2002. "Machiavellian Privatization," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(1), pages 240-258, March.
    14. Ingolf Dittmann & Ernst Maug & Christoph Schneider, 2008. "How Preussag Became TUI: A Clinical Study of Institutional Blockholders and Restructuring in Europe," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 37(3), pages 571-598, September.
    15. Bernardo Bortolotti & Marcella Fantini & Domenico Siniscalco, 2001. "Privatisation Around the World: New Evidence from Panel Data," CESifo Working Paper Series 600, CESifo.
    16. Boggio, Margherita, 2011. "From Reluctant Privatization to Municipal Capitalism: an Overview on Ownership, Political Connections and Decentralization," MPRA Paper 46232, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Bel, Germa, 2003. "Confidence building and politics in privatization: some evidence from Spain," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 78(1), pages 9-16, January.
    18. Narjess Boubakri & Jean‐Claude Cosset & Houcem Smaoui, 2009. "Does Privatization Foster Changes In The Quality Of Legal Institutions?," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 32(2), pages 169-197, June.
    19. Ibolya Schindele, 2003. "Theory of Privatization in Eastern Europe: Literature Review," Working Papers 2003.2, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    20. Eichengreen, Barry & Kletzer, Kenneth & Mody, Ashoka, 2006. "The IMF in a world of private capital markets," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 30(5), pages 1335-1357, May.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Privatization; signal; commitment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D7 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making
    • D8 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty
    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • L33 - Industrial Organization - - Nonprofit Organizations and Public Enterprise - - - Comparison of Public and Private Enterprise and Nonprofit Institutions; Privatization; Contracting Out

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:hpe:journl:y:2011:v:197:i:2:p:87-110. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Miguel Gómez de Antonio (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/iefgves.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.