Is the state ownership of enterprises gaining in importance in a modern economy?

Despite the ongoing privatization, state-owned enterprises (SOEs) still play an important role in many countries. Moreover, some scholars argue that today we are dealing with a possible of return of state-owned enterprises in the global economy. This paper reviews available data on SOEs in the context of the above mentioned thesis. First we review data on the current scope, structure and importance of the state-owned enterprise sector in a modern economy. It can be concluded that the SOEs play a significant role in a modern economy. Primarily this statement can be applied to developing countries. However, in developed countries SOEs constitute an important part of the economy as well. Next we review data on changing importance of SOEs. For this purpose we examine the Fortune Global 500 list, Product Market Regulation (PMR) indicator data and the list of the largest Polish companies. Subsequently we try to explain those ongoing trends. We could say that SOEs play a significant role in a modern economy and there is some evidence that they are gaining in importance. Among the factors responsible for this possible increase of the importance of SOEs in the world economy are: - The changes in the balance of power in the global economy, especially due to the rise of China and other BRIC countries, where government ownership plays a relatively large role in comparison with OECD countries. - Issues related to the control over natural resources. - The increase in government activity in many areas of the economy as a result of the financial crisis. However this process is not leading to a return to the number of SOEs that we saw in the 20th century, but what we see is a change in the way in which SOEs are used by the state owner. Governments are attempting to maintain the control and simultaneously to improve the efficiency of SOEs through better governance and greater reliance on market mechanisms