Hardback
Public Enterprise Revisited
A Closer Look at the 1954–79 UK Labour Productivity Record
9781840644562 Edward Elgar Publishing
The book compares the 1954–79 labour productivity record of 5 expanding public sector industries to that of 24 expanding, capital intensive, mass-production industries in the British private sector. The author shows that the public sector industries’ labour productivity growth was significantly faster than that of the private sector industries. Strikingly, he also finds that the state-owned industries were narrowing their productivity gap with their US counterparts at a significantly faster rate than the private sector industries. Dr Iordanoglou concludes that it is possible that public ownership had – in the historical period investigated – a long-term positive effect on these industries.
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Critical Acclaim
Contents
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According to conventional wisdom, public ownership of industry in post-war Britain led, invariably, to under-performance. This book casts doubt upon this view by showing that, as far as the labour productivity record of the expanding state-owned industries is concerned, this was clearly not the case.
The book compares the 1954–79 labour productivity record of 5 expanding public sector industries to that of 24 expanding, capital intensive, mass-production industries in the British private sector. The author shows that the public sector industries’ labour productivity growth was significantly faster than that of the private sector industries. Strikingly, he also finds that the state-owned industries were narrowing their productivity gap with their US counterparts at a significantly faster rate than the private sector industries. Dr Iordanoglou concludes that it is possible that public ownership had – in the historical period investigated – a long-term positive effect on these industries.
This book will be of great interest to scholars of industrial economics, public sector economics and economic history.
The book compares the 1954–79 labour productivity record of 5 expanding public sector industries to that of 24 expanding, capital intensive, mass-production industries in the British private sector. The author shows that the public sector industries’ labour productivity growth was significantly faster than that of the private sector industries. Strikingly, he also finds that the state-owned industries were narrowing their productivity gap with their US counterparts at a significantly faster rate than the private sector industries. Dr Iordanoglou concludes that it is possible that public ownership had – in the historical period investigated – a long-term positive effect on these industries.
This book will be of great interest to scholars of industrial economics, public sector economics and economic history.
Critical Acclaim
‘Iordanoglou has carried out a very significant piece of work. His basic idea of comparing the growth rate of productivity in the public and private sectors over a 25-year period provides a very useful method of approaching the bigger question of the relative efficiency of public enterprise . . . The book deserves wide distribution.’
– John Calvert, Labour / Le Travail
‘The merits of the work include a critical examination of the conventional wisdom that British nationalised companies "failed" and the rejection of this standard view; the use of a highly original method, based on historical evidence, to examine the productivity performance of British industries; scrupulous treatment of the industrial statistics and a quite exemplary, path-breaking, approach to international productivity comparisons; a theory of industrial performance which makes full use of the latest theory, while situating industries in their social and political context.’
– John Grahl, University of North London, UK
– John Calvert, Labour / Le Travail
‘The merits of the work include a critical examination of the conventional wisdom that British nationalised companies "failed" and the rejection of this standard view; the use of a highly original method, based on historical evidence, to examine the productivity performance of British industries; scrupulous treatment of the industrial statistics and a quite exemplary, path-breaking, approach to international productivity comparisons; a theory of industrial performance which makes full use of the latest theory, while situating industries in their social and political context.’
– John Grahl, University of North London, UK
Contents
Contents: 1. Introduction 2. Selection of the Sample 3. The Intertemporal Labour Productivity Comparisons 4. US–UK Labour Productivity Comparisons 5. Questions of Interpretation Appendices: A. Selection of the Sample: Technical Background B. Measurement of the Intertemporal Output Indices C. Measurement of the Employment Indices D. International Labour Productivity Comparisons Bibliography Index
