State ownership

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The Royal Bank of Scotland's office in Fleet Street, London. The Royal Bank of Scotland Group is a British state owned banking and insurance holding company in which HM Treasury holds an 84% controlling share (economic interest, actual voting rights will not rise above 75% in order to retain stock listing)[1]. This stake is held and managed through UK Financial Investments Limited.[2]

State ownership, also called public ownership, government ownership or state property, are property interests that are vested in the state, rather than an individual or communities.[3]

State ownership may refer to state ownership or control of any asset, industry, or enterprise at any level, national, regional or local (municipal); or to common (full-community) non-state ownership. The process of bringing an asset into public ownership is called nationalization or municipalization.

In primarily market-based economies, government-owned assets are often managed and run like joint-stock corporations with the government owning a controlling stake of the shares. This model is often referred to as a state-owned enterprise. A government-owned corporation (sometimes state-owned enterprise, SOE) may resemble a not-for-profit corporation as it may not be required to generate a profit. Governments may also use profitable entities they own to support the general budget. SOE's may or may not be expected to operate in a broadly commercial manner and may or may not have monopolies in their areas of activity. The creation of a government-owned corporation (corporatization) from other forms of government ownership may be a precursor to privatization.

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[edit] User rights

When ownership of a resource is vested in the state, or any branch of the state such as a local authority, individual use "rights" are based on the state's management policies, though these rights are not property rights as they are not transmissible. For example, if a family is allocated an apartment that is state owned, it will have been granted a tenancy of the apartment, which may be lifelong or inhertable, but the management and control rights are held by various government departments.[4]

[edit] Public property

Main article: public property

There is a distinction to be made between state ownership and public property. The former may refer to assets operated by a specific organization of the state used exclusively by their operators or that organization, such as a research laboratory, while public property refers to assets and resources that are available to the entire public for use, such as a public park (see public space).

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ The Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc (RBS) - Announcement on the APS and State Aid Discussions
  2. ^ RBS et mon droit: HM deficits (FT Alphaville, accessed 20 January 2009)
  3. ^ Clarke, Alison; and Paul Kohler (2005). Property law: commentary and materials. Cambridge University Press. pp. 40. ISBN 0521614899, 9780521614894. http://www.google.com/books?id=JnzxTbFwdLMC&dq=%22public+property%22+property+theory&lr=&as_brr=3&source=gbs_navlinks_s. 
  4. ^ Clarke, Alison; and Paul Kohler (2005). Property law: commentary and materials. Cambridge University Press. pp. 40. ISBN 0521614899, 9780521614894. http://www.google.com/books?id=JnzxTbFwdLMC&dq=%22public+property%22+property+theory&lr=&as_brr=3&source=gbs_navlinks_s. 
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