Against the mainstream: Nazi privatization in 1930s Germany Germà Bel* Universitat de Barcelona i ppre-IREA Contact data: Germà Bel Ppre-IREA Departament de Política Econòmica i EEM. Torre 6, planta 3 Facultat d’Econòmiques – UB Avd. Diagonal 690 08034 Barcelona – SPAIN Tel: 34.93.4021946 e-mail:
[email protected] http://www.germabel.cat * This research project has received financial help from the Fundación Rafael del Pino, and from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology under the Project BEC2003-01679. Much of the work on this paper was done while I was visiting scholar at Harvard University. Preliminary versions of the paper have been presented at Georgetown University. Comments and suggestions from Xavier Coller, Jost Dülffer and Luis Quiroga and an anonymous referee have been useful. I am fully responsible for any remaining errors. AGAINST THE MAINSTREAM: NAZI PRIVATIZATION IN 1930S GERMANY Abstract: The Great Depression spurred State ownership in Western capitalist countries. Germany was no exception; the last governments of the Weimar Republic took over firms in diverse sectors. Later, the Nazi regime transferred public ownership and public services to the private sector. In doing so, they went against the mainstream trends in the Western capitalist countries, none of which systematically reprivatized firms during the 1930s. Privatization in Nazi Germany was also unique in transferring to private hands the delivery of public services previously provided by government. The firms and the services transferred to private ownership belonged to diverse sectors. Privatization was part of an intentional policy with multiple objectives and was not ideologically driven. As in many recent privatizations, particularly within the European Union, strong financial restrictions were a central motivation.