An economic appraisal of recent reforms in public enterprise pricing policy in Victoria

Since its election in 1982, the Cain Labour Government has initiated major reforms in pricing policy for Victoria's public enterprises. Surprisingly, in view of the significance of public enterprises in Victoria and in other States, these pricing reforms have thus far not received the close appraisal from economists they warrant. Such an appraisal is particularly required a t this time since other State governments are reportedly considering whether to implement similar reforms for public enterprises operating in their States. The purpose of this - and a following paper - is to perform the task of such appraisal. The present paper assesses the reforms which impact on the level of public enterprise prices and the following paper focusses on the impact on the structure of prices.