Notes on voucher privatization in Eastern Europe

Abstract

Vouchers have emerged as an important device for creating demand for state assets in the privatization process in Eastern Europe. While almost all the former socialist countries have adopted or are planning a program that relies to some extent on free or nearly free distribution of ownership rights, the plans and policies are quite complex and vary widely across countries. This paper provides an overview of the use of vouchers in East European privatization, sketches some important dimensions of such programs, and reports on the current state of the program in five countries.

An earlier version of this paper was prepared for the Versailles Workshop on Voucher Privatization, sponsored by the Central European University Privatization Project and the Euro-92 Institute. Helpful comments from Dana Sapatoru on the first two sections of the paper are gratefully acknowledged. Data in the country reports section is primarily based on work by Central European University Privatization Project country teams in late May and early June, 1992. These participants are too numerous to list here separately, but the authors wish to express their appreciation to them nonetheless. All analysis and interpretation are the sole responsibility of the authors and should not be attributed to the Central European University, the Privatization Project or any of its associates.