The Governance Grenade: Mass Privatization, State Capacity and Economic Development in Postcommunist and Reforming Communist Societies.

This article critiques neoliberal transition theory from a state-centered perspective. Neoliberal scholars have used cross-national regression analysis to argue that postcommunist economic failure is the result of inadequate adherence to neoliberal precepts. Sociologists, in turn, have relied on case study data to show that postcommunist economic failure is the outcome of too close adherence to neoliberal policy recommendations, which has led to an erosion of state effectiveness, and thus produced underdevelopment. The present paper advances a version of this statist theory based on a quantitative analysis of mass privatization programs in the postcommunist world. We argue that the neoliberal policy of rapid large-scale privatization creates severe supply and demand shocks for enterprises, thereby inducing firm failure. The resulting erosion of tax revenues leads to a fiscal crisis for the state, and severely weakens its capacity and bureaucratic character. This, in turn, reacts back on the enterprise sector, as the state can no longer support the institutions necessary for the effective functioning of a capitalist economy, thus resulting in de-modernization. In this paper, we test the predictions of neoliberal transition theory against those of our statist theory, using cross-national regression techniques. We find that the implementation of mass privatization programs negatively impacts measures of economic growth, state capacity and the security of property rights.

Post-Manichean Economics: Foreign Investment, State Capacity and Economic Development in Transition Economies

This paper evaluates the role of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the transition from socialism to capitalism. Fixed-effects panel regressions indicate that FDI and domestic investment have an equal effect on growth in the first year of investment, but over time FDI is associated with greater growth than domestic investment. However, this positive impact of FDI turns out to be contingent upon the presence of a relatively well-functioning state in the host economy; in the absence of such a state, the net effect of FDI on economic development may be negative. All findings are robust in light of instrumental variable estimation, which is used to account for potential endogeneity problems.

Privatization and State Capacity in Postcommunist Society

Economists have used cross-national regression analysis to argue that postcommunist economic failure is the result of inadequate adherence liberal economic policies. Sociologists have relied on case study data to show that postcommunist economic failure is the outcome of too close adherence to liberal policy recommendations, which has led to an erosion of state effectiveness, and thus produced poor economic performance. The present paper advances a version of this statist theory based on a quantitative analysis of mass privatization programs in the postcommunist world. We argue that rapid large-scale privatization creates severe supply and demand shocks for enterprises, thereby inducing firm failure. The resulting erosion of tax revenues leads to a fiscal crisis for the state, and severely weakens its capacity and bureaucratic character. This, in turn, reacts back on the enterprise sector, as the state can no longer support the institutions necessary for the effective functioning of a modern economy, thus resulting in deindustrialization. Using cross-national regression techniques we find that the implementation of mass privatization programs negatively impacts measures of economic growth, state capacity and the security of property rights.privatization, transition economies, state capacity, property rights, institutions, growth

Organizing for individuation: alternative organizing, politics and new identities

Organization theorists have predominantly studied identity and organizing within the managed work organization. This frames organization as a structure within which identity work occurs, often as a means of managerial control. In our paper our contribution is to develop the concept of individuation pursued through prefigurative practices within alternative organizing to reframe this relation. We combine recent scholarship on alternative organizations and new social movements to provide a theoretical grounding for an ethnographic study of the prefigurative organizing practices and related identity work of an alternative group in a UK city. We argue that in such groups, identity, organizing and politics become a purposeful set of integrated processes aimed at the creation of new forms of life in the here and now, thus organizing is politics is identity. Our study presents a number of challenges and possibilities to scholars of organization, enabling them to extend their understanding of organization and identity in the contemporary world

Supersymmetric Majoron Inflation

We propose supersymmetric Majoron inflation in which the Majoron field $\Phi$ responsible for generating right-handed neutrino masses may also be suitable for giving low scale "hilltop" inflation, with a discrete lepton number $Z_N$ spontaneously broken at the end of inflation, while avoiding the domain wall problem. In the framework of non-minimal supergravity, we show that a successful spectral index can result with small running together with small tensor modes. We show that a range of heaviest right-handed neutrino masses can be generated, $m_N\sim 10^1-10^{16}$ GeV, consistent with the constraints from reheating and domain walls.Comment: 27 pages, 3 figure

Mass Privatization and the Postcommunist Mortality Crisis

During the transition to capitalism, postcommunist countries have experienced unprecedented mortality crises, although there has been considerable variation within — and between — countries and regions. Much of this variation remains unexplained, although alcohol and psychological stress have been found to be major causes of declining life expectancy. We move beyond this finding by showing that the implementation of neoliberal-inspired rapid large-scale privatization programs (mass privatization) was a major determinant of the decline in life expectancy. We find that mass privatization also increased alcohol-related deaths, heart disease, and suicide rates, strong evidence that mass privatization created psychosocial stress that directly resulted in higher mortality. We also find that mass privatization modestly contributed to a decline in the number of physicians, dentists, and hospital beds per capita; however, we find only very weak evidence that this reduction in health resources directly contributed to the mortality crisis itself. By using “control function” and instrumental variable approaches to account for the potential endogeneity of mass privatization, we also demonstrate that the choice of mass privatization as a property-reform strategy was not economically determined, but was rather caused by ethnic politics and the mimicking of policies adopted by powerful neighboring countries.postcommunist, mortality crisis, privatization, psychosocial stress

The Governance Grenade: Mass Privatization, State Capacity and Economic Growth in Post-communist Countries

Why did the transitions from state socialism to capitalism result in improved growth in some countries but significant economic declines in others? Three main arguments have been advanced: (1) the most successful countries rapidly implemented privatization, liberalization, and stabilization policies; (2) failures were unrelated to economic policies but occurred because of a poor institutional environment; and (3) the policies were counterproductive because they damaged the state. We present a state-centered theory which argues that the more radical the privatization program, the worse the subsequent performance. We agree with the second account, that institutions matter, but demonstrate that it was radical privatization itself which was a major determinant of institutional weakness. In addition, our account holds that privatization was in fact a crucial determinant of institutional failure, operating primarily through the creation of a massive shock to state revenues. We perform cross-national regressions for a sample of 30 countries between 1990 and 2000, and find that mass privatization programs negatively impacted economic growth, state capacity and property rights protection. These findings are corroborated with data from a random sample of 4,000 firms from 26 post-communist countries. We show that in countries which implemented sizable mass-privatized programs, privatized firms were substantially less likely to engage in successful industrial restructuring but considerably more likely to engage in barter and have tax arrears than their state owned counterparts.

Investigating the Role of Water Quality on the Galvanic Corrosion of Lead in Hard Drinking Water with a Focus on NOM

Although the use of lead in water distribution systems is currently prohibited in Canada, old lead service lines, lead solder, and lead containing plumbing fixtures continue to be sources of lead in the tap water of many households. Due to the potential health impacts associated with the exposure to lead, it is a regulated contaminant. As the regulations regarding lead in drinking water are becoming more stringent, many municipalities not currently implementing corrosion control measures may be required to do so in the near future. Water quality plays an important role with regards to the corrosion and subsequent release of lead into drinking water. The impacts of many water quality parameters on the release of lead have been well studied, however the impact of some parameters such as hardness and natural organic matter (NOM), require further examination. In particular, the majority of lead corrosion research has focused on soft waters and not on hard waters, which have much higher concentrations of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and hardness. To address literature gaps this study had two major goals; the first goal was to determine if hard waters could be aggressive to lead and the second goal was to evaluate if NOM could be a water quality factor of concern for lead release in real drinking water in Southern Ontario. To achieve these objectives the study was conducted in two phases. The first phase (Phase I) involved assessing the impact of pH, DIC, hardness, and NOM on the galvanic corrosion of lead using synthetic waters. The test pieces consisted of lead and copper pipes with an external galvanic connection. This experiment involved 20 weeks of “dump and fill” events where the test pieces were manually emptied and then refilled with water of the same chemistry. The pH had a potentially significant impact on the release of total lead from the test pieces, with an increase in the pH from 7 to 8.5 resulting in a decrease in the release of total lead by an average of 4,390 µg/L. DIC did not have a significant impact on the release of lead, but did potentially significantly increase the galvanic current. To be precise, an increase in the DIC concentration from 10 mg/L to 80 mg/L increased the galvanic current by an average of 28.4 µA. NOM dosed at a relatively high concentration of 7 mg DOC/L of Suwannee River NOM (SR NOM) had a potentially significant impact on the release of dissolved lead from the test pieces, increasing it by an average of 2,320 µg/L. Using fluorescence excitation emission matrix (FEEM), it was identified that there was a correlation between the release of dissolved lead and a decrease in the humic and fulvic acid intensities during stagnation. This provided indirect evidence that the formation of lead-NOM complexes were at least partially responsible for the increase in dissolved lead. Interestingly, hardness did not have a significant effect on the galvanic current or lead release, and oversaturating the waters with calcium carbonate did not mitigate lead release. As SR NOM at a relatively high concentration of 7 mg DOC/L was found to greatly increase the release of dissolved lead in a variety of synthetic waters in Phase I, the second phase of this study (Phase II) focused on assessing if NOM could be a water quality factor of interest in real drinking water in Southern Ontario. This involved comparing lead release from test pieces exposed to raw groundwater from a municipal well in Cambridge, Ontario, treated but unchlorinated water from the Mannheim Water Treatment Plant which receives water from the Grand River in Southern Ontario, and four synthetic waters that modelled the real waters. Two of the synthetic waters modelled each of the real waters; one with SR NOM at a similar DOC concentration as in the real waters and another without any NOM. Phase II utilized test pieces of the same design as in Phase I and involved 21 weeks of “dump and fill” experiments. As expected, the dissolved lead release varied significantly between the different water types. Interestingly, the real waters released less dissolved lead than the synthetic waters with SR NOM but more dissolved lead than the synthetic waters without NOM. Using field flow fractionation with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry and ultraviolet absorption at 254 nm, it was determined that both the complexation of lead with NOM and colloidal dispersion caused by NOM could be attributed to elevated dissolved lead release in the presence of SR NOM and to a lesser extent the NOM in the real waters. Based on testing of the NOM using FEEM and liquid chromatography with organic carbon detection, it appeared that humic and to a lesser extent fulvic acids formed soluble complexes with oxidized lead. The results suggest that hard waters could be aggressive towards lead, as lead release was relatively high in many of the hard waters. Additionally, hardness was not found to have a significant impact on lead release in Phase I and hardness films were not detected on any of the lead pipes in Phase I or II. Furthermore, DIC was found to increase the galvanic current between the lead and copper pipes, indicating that hard waters may be particularly susceptible to galvanic corrosion. As well, NOM may be a water quality factor of interest in a variety of real waters in Southern Ontario, including hard waters. Optimization of the treatment or removal of NOM is recommended for utilities that are attempting to decrease lead concentrations in consumers’ taps