THE COMPARATIVE PERFORMANCE OF PUBLIC AND PRIVATE ENTERPRISES - THE CASE OF BRITISH PORTS

British ports provide a comprehensive ''laboratory'' of mixed ownershi p enterprises. This paper applies stochastic frontier models to a uniq ue panel data set obtained from the industry in order to test the rela tive efficiency of public compared with private enterprises. The findi ng of the study is supportive of the view that efficiency gains from p rivatisation may be limited if the change involves the transfer of own ership from the public to the private sector only.