Nationalization

Discipline: Economics

The process by which privately-owned industries or companies are taken over by the state.

Nationalization is often applied to monopolies such as water and gas utilities or transport services, in which social needs are deemed more important than profitability.

Since the 1980s, there has been a trend to de-nationalize (privatize) industries in Europe, particularly in the UK.

Also see: laissez-faire, mercantilism, physiocracy, privatization

Source:
S Holland, ed., The State as Entrepreneur (London, 1972)

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