Economic Sectors
Government-owned corporations often operate in sectors where there is a natural monopoly, or where the government has strategic interest. However, government ownership of industry corporations is common.
Nationalization also forcibly converts a private corporation into a government-owned corporation.
In most OPEC countries, the governments own the oil companies operating on their soil. A notable example is the Saudi national oil company, Saudi Aramco, which the Saudi government bought in 1988 and changed its name from Arabian American Oil Company to Saudi Arabian Oil Company. The Saudi government also owns and operates Saudi Arabian Airlines, and owns 70% of SABIC, as well as many other companies. They are, however, being privatized gradually.
Read more about this topic: Government Corporations
Famous quotes containing the word economic:
“If in the earlier part of the century, middle-class children suffered from overattentive mothers, from being mothers only accomplishment, todays children may suffer from an underestimation of their needs. Our idea of what a child needs in each case reflects what parents need. The childs needs are thus a cultural football in an economic and marital game.”
—Arlie Hochschild (20th century)