Against the mainstream: Nazi privatization in 1930s Germany

The Great Depression spurred State ownership in Western capitalist countries. Germany was no exception; the last governments of the Weimar Republic took over firms in diverse sectors. Later, the Nazi regime transferred public ownership and public services to the private sector. In doing so, they went against the mainstream trends in the Western capitalist countries, none of which systematically reprivatized firms during the 1930s. Privatization in Nazi Germany was also unique in transferring to private hands the delivery f public services previously provided by government. The firms and the services transferred to private ownership belonged to diverse sectors. Privatization was part of an intentional policy with multiple objectives and was not ideologically driven. As in many recent privatizations, particularly within the European Union, strong financial restrictions were a central motivation. In addition, privatization was used as a political tool to enhance support for the government and for the Nazi Party.nazi economy, public enterprise, germany, privatization

Autovias y ferrocarriles: un modelo para evaluar efectos intermodales de la politica de infaestructuras

The supply of motorways reduces travel time costs by road, affecting thus the demand for road transport. Besides these intramodal effects, there exist intermodal effects too as far as motorways have impact on the demand of the competing modes. In this paper we establish and estimate a model that allows us to obtain useful results in order to evaluate motorways' impact on the demand for rail. Finally, on the basis of our empirical results, we predict some effects of the main investments in motorways foreseen in the Plan Director de Infraestructuras (1993-2007).surface transportation, infrastructure, transportation supply and demand