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A wave of privatizations is crossing the world. From France to the Soviet Union, from China to Germany, from Austria to Chile, new methods of privatization are spoken of, tried and tested. But nowhere has privatization been so profound and so successful politically and economically as in England. In this paper, the principal economic adviser to Margaret Thatcher’s government examines the characteristics of the English process. In his article, Sir Alan Walters explains the possible forms of corporate privatization policy. In his opinion, the value of the shares of the soon-to-be privatized company bears a direct relationship to the improbability of its re-nationalization.
In order to avoid a reversal of the process, he highlights the importance of political factors, including a significant increase in the number of shareholders in the country, even at the price where there is a partial "gift." In the United Kingdom, the total number of shareholders went from 3 million in 1979 to 8.5 million in 1987, which represents nearly 20% of the adult population. Privatization changed the interests of voters. For example, 16.6% of families who have a gas connection are now shareholders in British Gas. Today, BT (British Telecom) has 1.7 million shareholders. In the author’s opinion, this English experience sets down the framework for "democracy with possession of property" that has been the goal for quite some time of non-socialist parties in the Occident.