Redefining Property Rights with Specific Reference to Social Ownership in the Successor States of the Former Yugoslavia: Did it Matter for Economic Efficiency?

High economic growth rates after World War II characterized both socialism and capitalism. There were impressive results in the former socialist block, Western Europe, USA,and Japan. Apart from these models based on private and state ownership, the fastest economic growth for some time was recorded in the former Yugoslavia under social ownership. The issue of property rights despite being subject to comparative analyses pointing to more efficiency of one versus another type of property did not matter much in those growth rates. Only in mid 1980s when centralist and self-management socialism languished before making their transition to a market economy, scholars began to recognize property rights as a key to economic efficiency. Much attention was paid to how performance is affected when ownership rights are incomplete (e.g. separation of control and residual rights in social property)and/or more complete (like in private property). This article looks at the redefinition or privatization of social ownership in the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, and identifies the causes of smaller effects than expected of this redefinition