Public Enterprise in an Underdeveloped and Dependent Economy

Abstract

The object of this chapter is to review the socioeconomic and political framework that determines the potential role of public enterprise in guiding economy towards development paths that benefit the more populous strata of society, in an underdeveloped and dependent capitalist economy — a so-called ‘mixed economy’ — in which private ownership of production goods and productive investment predominates and contributes to the persistence of increasing inflationary pressures, unemployment, balance of payments deficits and social inequality.