Government ownership and the cost of debt : evidence from government investments in publicly traded firms

Contrary to public perceptions and despite the worldwide success of state privatizations, over the past decade governments have acquired more assets through stock purchases (US$ 969 billion) than they have sold through share issue privatizations and direct sales (US$ 765 billion). In fact, governments and stateowned entities have been such active stock-market investors that they now own approximately one-fifth of global stock-market capitalization