Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-l7hp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T22:26:06.490Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

What Drives the Diffusion of Privatization Policy? Evidence from the Telecommunications Sector

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 February 2011

Carina Schmitt
Carina Schmitt*
Affiliation:
Political Science, University of Bremen
*
Carina Schmitt Political Science University of Bremen Linzer Str. 9A Bremen 28359 Germany e-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper examines the extent to which diffusion mechanisms have been important for the privatization of telecommunications in the OECD world. It analyzes a panel dataset for 18 OECD countries between 1980 and 2007 using spatial econometric techniques. The sample includes 18 OECD countries between 1980 and 2007. The empirical findings strongly suggest that spatial interdependencies are significant for privatization policies. First, closely related countries from a geographical or economic perspective influence each other to a greater extent than non-related countries. Second, there is no evidence that governments adopt policies of countries with a similar cultural background or the policies of those countries where privatization has been shown to lead to the intended economic results at the company level. Third, the importance of diffusion is highly influenced by national characteristics such the openness of the economy.

Keywords

diffusionprivatizationpublic entrepreneurshiptelecommunications
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Public Policy , Volume 31 , Issue 1 , 23 February 2011 , pp. 95 - 117
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anselin, L. (2003) Spatial Externalities, Spatial Multipliers, And Spatial Econometrics. International Regional Science Review 26: 153–166.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anselin, L., Bera, A., Florax, R. J.Yoon, M. (1996) Simple diagnostic tests for spatial dependence. Regional Science and Urban Economics 26: 77–104.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Armingeon, K., Leimgruber, p., Beyeler, M.Menegale, S. (2008) Comparative Political Data Set 1960–2006. Bern: University of Bern.Google Scholar
Belke, A., Baumgärtner, F., Schneider, F.Setzer, R. (2007) The Different Extent of Privatization Proceeds in OECD-countries: A Preliminary Explanation Using a Public-Choice Approach. Finanzarchiv 63(2) 211–243.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bennett, C. J.Howlett, M. (1992) The lessons of learning: Reconciling theories of policy learning and policy change. Policy Sciences 25: 275–294.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Börzel, T. A.Risse, T. (2003) Conceptualizing the Domestic Impact of Europe. In Featherstone K. and Radaelli C. M. (eds.) The Politics of Europeanization. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 57–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boes, D. (1986) Public Enterprise Economics. Amsterdam: North Holland.Google Scholar
Boix, C. (1997) Privatising the Public Business Sector in the Eighties: Economic Performance, Partisan Responses and Divided Governments. British Journal of Political Science 27(4) 473–496.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bortolotti, B., Fantini, M.Siniscalco, D. (2003) Privatization around the World: Evidence from Panel Data. Journal of Public Economics 88: 305–332.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bortolotti, B.Siniscalco, D. (2004) The Challenges of Privatization. An International Analysis. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brooks, S. (2007) When Does Diffusion Matter? Explaining the Spread of Structural Pension Reforms across Nations. The Journal of Politics 69(3) 701–715.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brune, N., Garrett, G.Kogut, B. (2004) The Privatizations by Shares in the World Economy: Credible Ideologies and International Financial Institutions. IMF Staff Papers 54: 195–219.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bulmer, S. J.Radaelli, C. M. (2004) “The Europeanisation of National Policy” Queen's Papers on Europeanisation.Google Scholar
Castles, F. G. (1993) Families of Nations. Patterns of Public Policy in Western Democracies. Aldershot: Dartmouth Publishing Company.Google Scholar
Clifton, J., Comín, F.Fuentes, D. (2003) Privatization in the European Union. Public Enterprises and Integration. Dordrecht: Kluwer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dobbin, F., Simmons, B.Garrett, G. (2007) The Global Diffusion of Public Policies: Social Construction, Coercion, Competition, or Learning? Annual Review of Sociology 33: 449–472.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dolowitz, D.Marsh, D. (2000) Learning from Abroad: The Role of Policy Transfer in Contemporary Policy-Making. Governance 13: 15–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Elkins, Z.Simmons, B. A. (2005) On Waves, Clusters, and Diffusion: A Conceptual Framework. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 598: 33–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Franzese, R.Hays, J. (2007) Spatial Econometric Models of Cross-Sectional Interdependence in Political Science Panel and Time-Series-Cross-Section Data. Political Analysis 15: 140–164.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Franzese, R.Hays, J. (2008) Interdependence in Comparative Politics: Substance, Theory, Empirics, Substance. Comparative Political Studies 41(4/5) 742–780.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Franzese, R. J.Kam, C. D. (2010) Modeling and Interpreting Interactive Hypotheses in Regression Analysis. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Freeman, R. (2008) Learning in Public Policy. In Moran M., Rein M. and Goodin R. E. (eds.) Oxford Handbook of Public Policy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 367–388.Google Scholar
Garrett, G.Mitchell, D. (2001) Globalization, government spending and taxation in the OECD. European Journal of Political Research 39: 145–177.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gilardi, F. (2005) The Institutional Foundation of Regulatory Capitalism: The Diffusion of Independent Regulatory Agencies in Europe. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 598: 84–101.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gilardi, F. (2010) Who learns from What in Policy Diffusion Processes? American Journal of Political Science 54(3) 650–666.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hall, P. (1993) Policy Paradigms, Social Learning, and the State: The Case of Economic Policymaking in Britain. Comparative Politics 25: 275–296.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hays, J. (2009) Globalization and the New Politics of Embedded Liberalism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heston, A., Summers, R.Aten, B. (2009) Penn World Table Version 6.3. Center for International Comparisons of Production, Income and Prices at the University of Pennsylvania.Google Scholar
Holzinger, K.Knill, C. (2005) Causes and conditions of cross-national policy convergence. Journal of European Public Policy 12(5) 775–796.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Immergut, E. M. (1992) Health Politics: Interests and Institutions in Western Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
IMF. Direction of Trade Statistics. Yearbook, Washington, D.C.: IMF.Google Scholar
Jahn, D. (2006) Globalization as ‘Galton's Problem’: The Missing Link in the Analysis of Diffusion Patterns in Welfare State Development. International Organization 60: 401–431.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kittel, B. (1999) Sense and sensitivity in pooled analysis of political data. European Journal of Political Research 35: 225–253.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Knill, C.Lehmkuhl, D. (2002) The national impact of European Union regulatory policy: Three Europeanization mechanisms. European Journal of Political Research, CQE 41: 255–280.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kogut, B.MacPherson, M. (2008) The decision to privatize: economists and the construction of ideas and policies. In Simmons B. A., Dobbin F. and Garrett G. (eds.) The Global Diffusion of Markets and Democracy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 104–140.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lee, C. K.Strang, D. (2006) The International Diffusion of Public-Sector Downsizing: Network Emulation and Theory-Driven Learning. International Organization 60: 883–909.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lenschow, A., Liefferink, D.Veenman, S. (2005) When the birds sing. A Framework for Analysing Domestic Factors behind Policy Convergence. Journal of European Public Policy 12(5) 797–816.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levi-Faur, D. (2002) Herding towards a new convention: On herds, shepherds, and lost sheep in the liberalization of the telecommunications and electricity industries. Nuffield College Politics Papers Online.Google Scholar
Levi-Faur, D. (2003) The Politics of Liberalization: Privatization and Regulation-for-Competition in Europe's and Latin America's Telecoms and Electricity Industries. European Journal of Political Research 42: 705–740.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levi-Faur, D. (2004) On the “net impact” of Europeanization: The EU's Telecoms and Electricity Regimes between the Global and the National. Comparative Political Studies 3–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levi-Faur, D. (2005) The Global Diffusion of Regulatory Capitalism. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 598: 12–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
May, P. (1992) Policy Learning and Failure. Journal of Public Policy 12(4) 331–354.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Majone, G. (1997) From the Positive to the Regulatory State: Causes and Consequences of Changes in the Mode of Governance. Journal of Public Policy 17(2) 139–167.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martin, C. (2010) Interdependences and Political Ideology: The Conditional Diffusion of Cigarette Taxation in the US States. World Political Science Review 5(4).Google Scholar
Megginson, W. L.Netter, J. M. (2001) From State to Market: A Survey of Empirical Studies on Privatization. Journal of Economic Literature 39: 321–389.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meseguer, C. (2004) What Role for Learning? The Diffusion of Privatisation in OECD and Latin American Countries. Journal of Public Policy 24(3) 299–325.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meseguer, C. (2005) Policy Learning, Policy Diffusion, and the Making of a New Order. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 598: 67–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meseguer, C. (2009) Learning, Policy Making, and Market Reforms. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meseguer, C.Escribà-Folch, A. (2010) Learning, political regimes and the liberalisation of trade. European Journal of Political Research forthcoming.Google Scholar
OECD (2008) Economic Outlook No. 84. Paris: OECD.Google Scholar
Olsen, J. P. (2002) The Many Faces of Europeanization. Journal of Common Market Studies 40: 921–952.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pluemper, T.Neumayer, E. (2010) Model specification in the analysis of spatial dependence. European Journal of Political Research 49: 418–442.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Radaelli, C. M. (2003) The Europeanization of Public Policy. In Featherstone K. and Radaelli C. M. (eds.) The Politics of Europeanization. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 27–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rose, R. (1991) What is Lesson-Drawing? Journal of Public Policy 11: 3–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rose, R. (1993) Lesson-Drawing in Public Policy. A Guide to Learning across Time and Space. Chatham:, NJ: Chatham House Publisher.Google Scholar
Sabatier, P. (1987) Knowledge, policy-oriented learning and policy change. Knowledge 8: 649–692.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schmidt, V. A. (2002) Europeanization and the mechanics of economic policy adjustment. Journal of European Public Policy 9: 894–912.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schneider, V. (2001) Institutional Reform in Telecommunications: The European Union in Transnational Policy Diffusion. In Cowles M. G. and Caporaso J. and Risse T. (eds.) Transforming Europe. Europeanization and Domestic Change. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 60–78.Google Scholar
Schneider, V.Häge, F. M. (2008) Europeanization and the Retreat of the State. Journal of Public Policy 15(1) 1–19.Google Scholar
Shleifer, A.Vishny, R. (1997) A Survey of Corporate Governance. Journal of Finance 54(2) 417–517.Google Scholar
Simmons, B. A.Elkins, Z. (2004) The Globalization of Liberalization: Policy Diffusion in the International Political Economy. American Political Science Review 98(1) 171–189.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stone, D. (1999) Learning Lessons and Transferring Policy across Time, Space and Disciplines. Politics 19: 51–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Strang, D. (1991) Adding social strucutre to diffusion models: An event history framework. Sociological Methods and Research 19(3) 324–353.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thatcher, M. (2004) Winners and Losers in Europeanisation: Reforming the National Regulation of Telecommunications. West European Politics 27: 284–309.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
United Nations Statistics Division (UN) (2009) National Accounts Statistics Database. New York: United Nations.Google Scholar
Weyland, K. (2006) Bounded Rationality and Policy Diffusion. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Zohlnhöfer, R.Obinger, H. (2006) Selling Off the “Family Silver”: The Politics of Privatization. World Political Science Review 2(1) 29–52.Google Scholar
Zohlnhöfer, R., Obinger, H.Wolf, F. (2008) Partisan Politics, Globalization, and the Determinants of Privatization Proceeds in Advanced Democracies (1990–2000). Governance 21(1) 95–121.CrossRefGoogle Scholar