A general discussion of the problems of measuring the performance of public and private enterprise can be found in:
Robert Millward and David Parker (1983) Public and Private Enterprise Comparative Behaviour and Relative Efficiency, Public Sector Economics, Longman: London, pp. 199–274.
The climate of the early 1980s and the view that the problem of devising a suitable incentive structure for public enterprises was intractable is well represented by:
Richard Pryke (July 1982) ‘The Comparative Performance of Public and Private Enterprise’, Fiscal Studies, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 68–81.
Details concerning the performance of individual industries can be found in reports from the Monopolies and Mergers Commission, although often the terms of reference are restricted to particular activities of the industries concerned. More generally, the progress of the sector during the 1980s was so bound up with arguments about privatisation and deregulation that the reader is advised to consult the references mentioned at the end of Modules 3 (on regulation) and 9 (on privatisation). A useful summary paper, however, is:
Molyneux and Thompson (1987) ‘Nationalised Industry Performance: Still Third Rate?’, Fiscal Studies, vol. 8, no. 1.
