John Kay, an independent economist, points out that privatisation did not get rid of the public-policy issues, such as the need to ensure supply, that led utility industries to be nationalised in the first instance.

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By contrast, in Brazil the main aim of public policy has been to push carmakers to build local factories from which to supply the country's huge domestic market.

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The government commissioned Kate Barker, a member of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee, to look at supply principally because it is worried about public-service workers in the southeast, such as teachers and nurses, whose ranks Mr Brown aims to increase.

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