nationalization versus privatization

nationalization versus privatization

the taking into public ownership, in the case of nationalization, of an entire industry or an individual firm, and, in the case of privatization (denationalization), the removal of an industry or firm from the public sector and its sale back to the private sector.

In a fully centrally planned ECONOMY, most if not all of industry is owned by the State, while in a free enterprise economy, industry is in private hands. In a mixed economy such as the UK, some industries are State-owned, but most are in the private sector. In the 1980s in the UK the political tide placed a greater emphasis on free enterprise and this led the government to embark on a widespread privatization programme which has included the sale of the gas, telecommunications, water, electricity, bus and steel industries, together with various individual businesses including BP, BAA, TSB and Amersham.

Collins Dictionary of Business, 3rd ed. © 2002, 2005 C Pass, B Lowes, A Pendleton, L Chadwick, D O’Reilly and M Afferson