Privatization Methods and Their Consequences in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland

The Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland have used different methods as a way of privatizing mid- and large-size state enterprises. They are voucher privatization, sales to strategic foreign investors and employee buy-outs, respectively. This paper compares and evaluates their impacts on the emerging corporate governance, financial market institutionalization and enterpríse restructuríng. While the adoption of different privatization methods reflected in part the path-dependent nature of transitions, it was the post-communist political process that linked the communist legacies and a particular privatization package. Once implemented, the different privatization packages have created different paths in the construction of market institutions. These paths often diverged from the reformers' blueprints. Contrary to radical reformers' intention, inherited property and stakeholder networks have not been destroyed by the extensive privatization; rather, they have been reconstructed. And, the three economies have shown a common pattern of "path-dependence" in which a common inherited legacy constrains and even seems to overshadow other factors in-cluding the effects of privatization methods; that is, weak financial market. Mainly due to infantile capital market and persisting inherited networks, these economies have evolved toward the German rather than Anglo-Saxon model of corporate governance and financial market institutions. It is difficult to measure the effects of privatization methods on the post-privatization performance of enterprises due to the problems of national idiosyncrasies and selection bias. Still, an important lesson derived from the Central European experience is that (a particular method of) privatization alone does not solve the question of enterprise restructuring More than anything else, bank restructuring and adequate bankruptcy policies should go hand in hand with the enterprise privatization