EIRP Proceedings, Vol 10 (2015)

Abstract

Against the backdrop of the recent crisis, many European countries have been confronted to high and unsustainable public debts, the issue of conceiving and implementing debt reduction strategies becoming one of great interest to both the scientific community and public policy-makers. Several options have been put forward, some of them (like fiscal consolidation) explored in depth by researchers and already applied in many countries, while others have benefited of less, even minor attention. Thus, our paper aims to evaluate the sale of public (financial and non-financial) assets as possible alternative for restoring public debt sustainability in European countries, contributes to existing literature by providing a more thorough analysis of a usually overlooked alternative. The paper is designed as a case study, mixing qualitative and quantitative evidence on the topics of interest with regard to the situation of 20 European countries, selected on criteria of data availability. The general conclusion is that the sale of public assets should, at least in the most indebted countries, be incorporated  into public debt reduction strategies, but in addition to other measures (mainly fiscal consolidation ones) and always on the basis of realistic and extensive cost-benefit analysis.