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Etiqueta: Privatización

Private roads: Response to Zhang and Levinson

“Paper” original escrito por: Walter Block.

Archivo pdf original aquí.

Abstract:

Zhang and Levinson (2009) have joined the ranks of those who seriously contemplate a private road and highway industry. But their support for privatization is a limited one. The present paper is an attempt to obviate their support for restricting the economic freedom of private street and road owners.
Purpose of this paper: to promote road privatization
Design/methodology/approach: criticize Zhang and Levinson
Findings: Zhang and Levinson are fair weather friends of privatized highways
What is original/value of paper: road privatization will save thousands of lives.

Key words:

Traffic fatalities; congested highways; privatization; deregulation

JEL category:

R00

Private roads: Response to Zhang and Levinson

I wish to welcome Zhang and Levinson (2009) to the ranks of scholars who at least seriously consider the case for free enterprise roads, highways, streets, etc.

Why is it so important that these ranks be swelled? There are two reasons, one crucially imperative, the other of no little importance. The first is the fact that some 40,000 people in the U.S. perish annually from highway fatalities, and this is the fault of public ownership. Privatization is the last best hope for radically reducing this horrid statistic. The second, a minor reason compared to that one, but very important in its own right, is traffic congestion. This costs the American economy millions of dollars per year, and even fits into the first consideration in a minor way: road rage is enhanced by traffic congestion, and this in and of itself leads to road deaths.

The usual explanation given for traffic fatalities is speed, driver inattention, drunkenness and drugged driving, bad weather conditions, etc. But this is totally fallacious. Rather, the massive killings are due to the failure of government road managers to deal with these challenges. If there were private profit and loss making entrepreneurs in charge, the death rate would be radically reduced due to competition. Similarly, under private enterprise it is more than likely that peak load pricing would be introduced, and traffic congestion would be a phenomenon of the past.

So I once again repeat my congratulations to Zhang and Levinson (2009) for joining the ranks of scholars who seriously contemplate, and often even advocate, privatization of this industry. Unfortunately, this welcome must come accompanied by an asterisk. For, instead of favoring a fully free enterprise private enterprise road industry, they invite in, only, one that is greatly constrained and hemmed in by a welter of restrictions and regulations.

What is their reasoning on this matter? What are their reservations about full laissez faire in this sector of the economy? They are not fully weaned away from road socialism on these; following grounds:

“… private roads possess spatial monopoly power and will likely charge higher-than-optimal tolls on their users, leading to welfare losses. In addition, market entry barriers due to high construction cost and demand uncertainty imply that the private road economy is not a perfect market.”

This is highly problematic. Every geographical business has “spatial monopoly power.” This applies not only to “long, thin things” such as pipelines, railroads, water and sewer lines, telephone lines, etc. It also pertains to each and every commercial enterprise that takes up space, which means each and every one of them without exception. For example, bakeries, shoe stores, groceries, pharmacies, hotels, etc. How can we prove any such claim? It is simple: two things cannot occupy the same relevant space at the same time. If the jewelry store occupies 123 Elm Street in Nowhere, USA, then the filling station cannot also have this as its address.

Then, consider the claim that private roads will “charge higher-than-optimal tolls.” There are difficulties here. For one thing, this is predicated upon an outdated, mischievous understanding of monopoly versus perfect competition. Among the other fallacies of this perspective are that it involves invalid interpersonal comparisons of utility. How does the state know what the optimal price for road usage would be? To think that it does is to ignore the contributions of many economists to the debate over socialist calculation. If we have learned anything from this debate, it is that central planners, in the absence of market prices, cannot rationally plan. Yet, it is the very market prices that would emanate under road privatization that Zhang and Levinson are advocating be undermined.

For another, this relies upon the institution, the government, which is responsible for the massive traffic deaths in the first place. These authors in effect are relying on one branch of the government, the anti-trust regulators, to overcome the flaws in the polices of another branch, those in charge of roads, streets and highways. Suppose one division of a supermarket created problems, let us suppose the meat and butcher section. Would we choose to ameliorate this another branch, for example that which deals with fruit and vegetables? They would hardly be our first choice, since we would look to the root of the initial difficulty and see that entire institution as problematical.

Zhang and Levinson continue their rejection of a fully free market for highways:

“Therefore, comparing a centralized public ownership with an unregulated private ownership is not fair because in theory, proper regulations on private roads can improve welfare…. Limited by the length of the paper, we will only consider the price ceiling regulation in which a global maximum toll level (e.g., $3 per km) is set for all private roads.”

Very much to the contrary, it is exceedingly fair to
compare a centralized public ownership with an unregulated private ownership. The present situation, it bears repeated, creates some 40,000 needless deaths per year. The best estimate for the number of needless fatalities in the latter case is around 10,000. Thus, 30,000 people could be saved on an annual basis. It is not only “fair” it is imperative to compare these two very different systems of road management. Many innocent lives are at stake.

If economics 101 teaches us anything, it is that a price ceiling at any level brings about a shortage. We all can picture the supply and demand drawing with an illustrated maximum price placed below equilibrium. What ensues? Well, demand exceeds supply and we have a shortage. Even on the basis of interventionist neo-classical economics, it simply makes no sense to impose a “$3 per km” on every roadway. Surely, the supply and demand conditions would not be homogeneous all throughout the entire country. And also if we want to have a full employment enactment for economists, we should spend vast amounts of treasure on us dismal scientists so that we can figure out which price ceilings should be placed upon which streets and avenues?

The next arrow in the quiver of is this:

“For any regulatory policy, there is also the issue of optimal regulation. In the case of price ceiling, the optimal ceiling price that maximizes social welfare needs to be determined so that the full potential of the regulation can be appreciated.”

Here, these authors are entirely correct. It is indeed important to determine “the optimal ceiling price.” But, from reading in between the lines, one gets the impression that in their view it would be impossible for the optimal ceiling price to be none at all. Rather, what they appear to have in mind is some price, perhaps not the exact same for all roads that lies below equilibrium. But why will the “full potential” be realized when shortages are created? Who benefits from when demand exceeds supply? It is difficult to see that anyone would, except for the bureaucrats charged with rationing a limited supply amongst numerous customers. However, we already have just that situation: traffic congestion. And, we already have a maximum price set below equilibrium, at present. It is a zero price.

Last but not least, Zhang and Levinson deviate from the free enterprise position as follows:

“When the ceiling price is too high, its influence on private roads’ pricing and investment decisions is marginal. When it is too low, private roads may not be willing to expand an under-built network to the optimal capacity level. We identify the optimal ceiling price by simulating a large number of alternative ceiling prices (i.e., from $0 to $10 per km in $0.1 increments) and evaluating the corresponding welfare measures. Although a global ceiling price for all links is assumed herein for simplicity, the optimal ceiling price in theory could vary on a link-by-link basis.”
Happily, our authors make the best of a bad business by allowing that regulated prices cannot be of a one size fits all variety. Their comment about high ceilings being marginal is also in the right direction. If they are high enough, they will have no effect whatsoever. For example, if the maximum price allowed is $1 million per inch travelled, it would not “bite” at all. But then comes the full employment for economists consideration: doing empirical research on this matter.

I, along with all other dismal scientists approve of this as a matter of instinct. But not when so many innocent lives are at stake. Let us have instead full free enterprise, unencumbered by price controls, and a radical reduction in traffic fatalities.

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Privatización silenciosa

Cuando existe la oportunidad política[1] debemos pasar de una economía socialista, altamente intervenida, sobreregulada o equivocadamente regulada a una más liberal, de iniciativa privada, libre empresa y con un menor paternalismo. Los liberales solemos enfatizar en el valor de la privatización como principal medio para reducir el tamaño del Estado y permitir la participación del sector privado. Y ello para dar lugar al enriquecimiento característico de la economía de mercado.

Aunque la privatización tiene claros beneficios económicos, también presenta dos grandes desafíos: problemas de procedimiento y costos políticos. En este artículo, propongo una solución: antes de privatizar, es crucial liberalizar en la medida de lo posible. Esta estrategia, aunque evidente, no siempre se aplica. Hay países que salen del socialismo, como las repúblicas ex soviéticas o posiblemente Venezuela, Argentina y Cuba en el futuro. En ellos, la privatización puede parecer la prioridad más urgente, y la acción política más visible y coherente con el liberalismo. Sin embargo, privatizar sin liberalizar no resuelve el problema de fondo y puede generar descontento social contraproducente.

Retos del procedimiento

El proceso de privatización, es decir, el cómo se hará, es crucial para el éxito de la privatización. En el procedimiento de privatización se deben tener en cuenta los siguientes retos:

  • Oligarquías. El principal riesgo es que el procedimiento no sea abierto y transparente. Y que las empresas pasen a manos de amigos de los políticos y no a manos del mejor postor.
  • Cambios radicales. La privatización puede traer una renovación de la plantilla de trabajadores. Por lo general son solo los cargos importantes, pero puede conllevar un cambio en la estructura y funcionalidad completa de la empresa. Hay que tener en cuenta que algunos servicios o empresas públicas no existieran si no fuesen obra del Estado. Ello no confirma que el Estado sea necesario, más bien indica que el Estado puede llevar a cabo proyectos parasitarios que destruyen recursos. No obstante, los cambios radicales producto de la privatización pueden ser políticamente costosos o impopulares.
  • No se compensa al contribuyente. Si quienes en última instancia los contribuyentes han sido quienes han financiado las empresas y obras públicas, ¿no debería los contribuyentes beneficiarse de la privatización? Sí, debería ser así. Pero repartir en acciones las empresas públicas no es sencillo, barato o necesariamente lo más eficiente que se pueda hacer.
  • Pasar de bienes públicos a copropiedad. Puede darse el caso que la privatización amerite convertir el bien en una copropiedad. Esto puede implicar un reto político y social de coordinación y cooperación para los involucrados.

Costos políticos de la privatización

El nefasto Estado de bienestar y las empresas públicas suelen presentar el característico patrón maniacodepresivo del socialismo. Lo publico por lo general tiene un inicio relativamente exitoso, las nuevas obras publicas suelen ser ambiciosas y pomposas, las empresas recién nacionalizadas reciben un empujón por la vía de nuevo financiamiento, menos trabas para operar en el país o nuevos contratos públicos. Pero con el paso del tiempo, lo publico se va haciendo menos innovador y eficiente, y al llenarse de subsidios, empleados públicos innecesarios y ciudadanos dependientes del sistema, lo publico se torna enormemente costosos económicamente y difícil de desmontar políticamente. De esa manera, se atornilla la socialdemocracia, haciendo casi imposible salir de ella.

A pesar de que pueda alcanzar un Estado deplorable, lo publico no pierde clientes o usuarios por dos razones básicas: el subsidio y la ausencia de competencia. Lo primero es una estrategia insostenible, los ciudadanos pagan por la vía de impuestos un servicio que se subsidia, por lo que se distorsiona toda información sobre sus precios y demanda de mercado, llevando a excesos y carencias en la administración. Por otro lado, la ausencia de competencia es la vía por la que se consolida el paternalismo, la dependencia al Estado y se destruye la iniciativa privada.

Privatización: beneficios sociales, costes políticos

Las universidades y hospitales públicos no dejan de ser una opción para los ciudadanos porque el Estado frena, limita o encarece enormemente la participación privada en esos sectores. Por ejemplo, con regulaciones que limitan la apertura de nuevas escuelas de medicina. De lo contrario, habría una amplia oferta de la carrera y bajarían los precios. Ello permitiría al usuario tener una alternativa a lo público que no sea significativamente costosa.

En consecuencia, por lo general, lo público acumula una enorme cantidad de empleados y usuarios dependientes. Se deteriora lentamente, pero no muere del todo porque no puede quebrar sin una restricción presupuestaria dura. Y, al ser el único servicio (como la seguridad) o el único servicio a muy bajo coste (como la salud), no pierde usuarios por más bajo que caiga la calidad y eficiencia de su oferta. Estas tres razones hacen que la privatización sea muy beneficiosa económicamente para las cuentas públicas, pero muy costoso políticamente porque el mercado no ha tenido tiempo de desarrollar plenamente las alternativas a lo público.

Liberalización: el primer paso necesario

Liberalizar o desregular sectores de la economía es una forma de quitar poder al Estado. Permite que el orden espontáneo tome el protagonismo mediante el desarrollo individual y descentralizado de la función empresarial por parte de todos. Cuando la oferta pública decae, no surge inmediatamente oferta privada por las barreras de entrada. Sin embargo, cuando no hay barreras de entrada, a pesar de que sector público este funcionando relativamente bien, el sector privado suele llenar huecos en la oferta. Presenta sus sustitutos, que pueden no tener mucha fuerza en el inicio, pero la irán adquiriendo en la medida en que los clientes tengan mayor poder adquisitivo. O que el sector público empiece a presentar sus debilidades programadas.

Liberalizar o desregular también tiene costes políticos, pero son menores que los de la privatización porque los beneficios y perjuicios aparecen en paralelo y los beneficiados suelen ser mayoría. Por ejemplo, en el corto plazo, cuando se permite Uber o cualquier servicio similar los clientes se benefician y los taxistas se perjudican en paralelo. O cuando se permite ampliar sin restricciones la oferta académica, escolar y universitaria, las familias se benefician y las instituciones anteriormente privilegiadas se ven perjudicadas. En ambos casos los clientes, que son mayoría, ven un abaratamiento inmediato.

Aprovechar las situaciones difíciles

A pesar de ser minoría, los oligopolistas en forma de gremios y otras entidades se organizarán para protestar. Pueden ser «ruidosos» y persuasivos, y tornar la opinión pública a su favor. Ante esto es recomendable liberalizar en sintonía con la coyuntura política. Como suelen hacer los socialistas cuando aprovechan las crisis para aumentar su tamaño, pero de manera contraria. Se trata de aprovechar, por ejemplo, la subida del precio de los alimentos para reducir impuestos o desregular la importación o producción de alimentos.

Privatizar puede que lleve a una reducción brusca del gasto público. Pero liberalizar antes de privatizar no constituye una mala estrategia para sanear las cuentas públicas. La liberalización despierta sectores de la economía que estuvieron dormidos en el pasado, lo que trae nuevas inversiones y crecimiento que se puede traducir en mayores ingresos para el Estado. En paralelo, la nueva oferta privada de sanidad, educación, transporte, entre otros, retira usuarios de los servicios públicos. Ello puede reducir parte de sus gastos, principalmente costes variables.

Cocnclusión

En conclusión, si durante muchos años se desarrollan y conviven en paralelo empresas públicas y privadas sin mayores regulaciones monopolísticas, la privatización estará más cerca. Será más fácil, menos costosa políticamente y más aceptada por la población. Si en algún momento, políticos realmente liberales tienen la oportunidad de hacer un cambio, deberán hacerlo sin titubear. De manera determinada y radical. Pero la mejor estrategia será empezar por liberalizar y desregular, a un ritmo constante, aprovechando la coyuntura y lidiando con los grupos de presión. Con ello progresivamente se habrán construido los cimientos para las futuras privatizaciones.

Ver también

La privatización con cupones de la República Checa (José Carlos Rodríguez)

Desamortización civil (Cristóbal Matarán).


[1] El presente artículo parte de la premisa de que existen políticos liberales que buscan reducir el tamaño del Estado, sobre lo que el autor es escéptico. No obstante, es relevante reflexionar sobre estrategias políticas beneficiosas para el liberalismo.

Desamortización civil

A mediados del s.XIX, los liberales españoles llevaron a cabo una de las hazañas antiliberales más conocidas: la desamortización de los bienes eclesiásticos. Primero Mendizábal y después Madoz se dedicaron a expropiar los bienes considerados de manos muertas, esto es, sin suficiente productividad, con el fin de venderlos a precio superior y financiar así las guerras carlistas. Estas ventas supusieron unos suculentos ingresos para el Estado y la falta de estos fue una de las causas de la crisis del régimen de 1876 que terminó con el pronunciamiento de Primo de Rivera en 1923.

Las manos muertas del Estado

Pero, en los tiempos actuales de Estados del Bienestar, la situación de manos muertas ha pasado, más bien, al Estado. Para empezar, “la Seguridad Social tiene 874 inmuebles totalmente vacíos o sin uso”, con un coste de 143 millones al Estado. Los inmuebles o solares vacíos son directamente imposibles de conocer a efectos autonómicos o no digamos ya municipales. Mientras tanto, el sector público no deja de incrementar la presión fiscal sobre la economía privada a medida que entra en quiebra recurrentemente.

Aun así, esta pérdida de capital a manos llenas no se limita únicamente a los inmuebles vacíos. Las empresas públicas se han convertido en otro pozo sin fondo de dinero público malgastado a manos llenas. Los tertulianos se llenan la boca pidiendo la estatalización de servicios considerados arbitrariamente como esenciales, especialmente el suministro eléctrico o de gas. Mientras, el suministro de cartas se encomienda, en régimen de monopolio, a una empresa estatal, Correos, que ha perdido más de doscientos millones de euros sólo en 2022. Lleva seiscientos millones acumulados de déficit en tres años. A esto se suma que sus directos, que no tienen que rendir cuentas ante una junta general de accionistas, sino ante los políticos que ahí los han colocado, se reparten jugosos bonus (algunos de más de 50.000 euros anuales) por consecución de objetivos (que a saber cuáles son).

Beneficios míos, pérdidas vuestras

Las empresas estatales, por su propia naturaleza, no son entidades que se deban a unos accionistas, sino a unos políticos, tal y como hemos mencionado. No es de recibo que una persona sostenga una crítica a la clase política en su conjunto, mientras suspira para que ésta tome bajo su control mayores parcelas de la vida civil. Cabe imaginarse al político al que más odio visceral tengamos gestionando algún aspecto de nuestra vida para desarmar argumentalmente el control estatal.

Pero el que el Estado juegue a los empresarios tiene una consecuencia más perversa, y esta es la gestión de sus recurrentes pérdidas. Mientras que los beneficios son disfrutados por unos pocos, ahí está el caso de PetroBras, las pérdidas son sostenidas por aquellos a los que se decía defender con el paso de la gestión privada a manos estatales.

Una desamortización civil

Sin ir más lejos, este mes hemos conocido el fallo del Tribunal de Apelaciones argentino a favor de Repsol por la estatalización de YPF. El coste ascienda a 18.000 millones de euros. Alguno podría pensar que dicha indemnización podría costearse con los beneficios obtenidos a partir de la estatalización de la compañía. En tres días había perdido un 40% de su valor bursátil. Ya vemos cómo el Estado jugando a empresario, con personas que normalmente no han gestionado nada con una cuenta de resultados, supone un riesgo moral inasumible.

Por tanto, a los liberales del s.XXI les corresponde una tarea mucho más encomiable que la desamortización llevada a cabo en el s.XIX, que es la desamortización civil. Los activos en manos del Estado, especialmente las participaciones empresariales, deben pasar a manos de la sociedad civil. Los Estados deben quedar al margen de cualquier ejercicio empresarial, ya sea beneficioso o perjudicial desde el punto de vista contable. Los Estados no están para jugar a la tiendita con el dinero del contribuyente. Mil millones de euros perdidos por la SEPI únicamente en 2022 así lo atestiguan.