Discussion of Lic Sacristán Roy’s Paper

Professor Srinivasan said that Lie Sacristán’s paper had looked at the advantages and disadvantages of public enterprise from a somewhat abstract theoretical viewpoint. This was true of most of the discussions of this issue, particularly in developing countries, as he could confirm from his familiarity with similar debates in India. He stressed that the question of what form of enterprise was the most efficient in any given situation would have to be studied empirically. He doubted whether there was any empirical evidence for the claim that private enterprise tended to consume more out of profits than public enterprise. Conspicuous consumption was to be observed not only among capitalists, but also in the public domain. For example, the latest toys for the airforce or navy, or luxury housing for bureaucrats, did not have very high social value. Regarding Sacristán’s reference to the stronger position which public enterprises possessed in negotiating the transfer of technology, he said that if this were indeed the case, then the government could simply require that all such negotiations be done under state auspices. This did not necessarily imply that production itself should also be in public hands. He also doubted whether a bureaucrat in charge of a public enterprise had more knowledge of the available range of choice of technology than a private enterprise. But this again was an empirical issue.