Privatization Was Supposed to Save Us Money. It Didn’t

The promise was cheaper, better, and more efficient. What we got was broken trains, skyrocketing energy bills, and corporations holding governments hostage.

In the late twentieth century, a new economic orthodoxy took hold in Western democracies. Governments, advised by free-market economists and pressured by international lenders, began selling off state-owned industries and services. This trend, known as privatization, promised a new era of streamlined efficiency, reduced public spending, and increased co…