Mass Privatization Funds – the New Institutional Investors in the East? A Comparative Study of CEE Mass Privatization Schemes

Most authors and policy makers agree on the necessity to carry out large-scale privatization as a main mechanism for private sector development in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. The implementation of the privatization policy, however, requires making choices with huge economic, political and social implications, such as: how to privatize by sale or by free distribution; who should be the new owners the incumbent managers and employees, the general population, or business entities, what should the balance between foreign and domestic buyers be, etc. Each of these alternatives has its relative advantages or disadvantages both from the point of view of general economic theory and of the economic and political reality in individual countries.