Auctions may be an appropriate way to reorganize the liabilities of some overindebted East Asian firms - those that are generally well run, for which there is merit in keeping the existing owners in place, but for which conventional bankruptcy procedures are proving too slow. This Note proposes...

The author exposes some of the myths still surrounding the use of vouchers in mass privatization. He explains why using vouchers will not affect the price level in the economy-even though they carry a face value. He shows that vouchers allow assets to sell despite minimum acceptable bid prices...

The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, supported by a World Bank policy-based loan, is trying a new approach to reform its enterprises. Enterprises will still be privatized as soon as possible, but the government frankly acknowledges that a few enterprises have considerable clout and must be...

The buildup of interenterprise credit in many Central and Eastern European countries is often seen as a problem that requires a government bailout. The authors show that arrears rise only temporarily, as the hard budget constraint bites, and then plateau. Therefore, they argue that while...