Exposed to Innumerable Delusions: Public Enterprise and State Power in Egypt, India, Mexico, and Turkey

The states of Egypt, India, Mexico, and Turkey have all developed extensive public enterprise sectors and have sought to regulate most economic activities outside the state sector. Their experiences have been typical of scores of developing countries that followed similar paths of industrialization. This study examines the origins of these state sectors, the dynamics of their growth and crises, and the efforts to reform or liquidate them. It is argued that public ownership creates its own c...