Privatization

Do Libertarians support Privatization? It depends. Libertarians want to privatize everything but libertarians don't support all methods of privatization.

Privatization has become a shorthand way of describing the process of selling public or state assets to corporate interests for cheap. This subcategory of Privatization can be termed as Neoliberal Privatization. Libertarians (should) oppose this. Some libertarians tolerate this method of privatization on utilitarian grounds, or because it is usually accompanied with removing barriers to entry.

Libertarian privatization would mean returning ownership and control of those assets to those who were forced to pay for it (taxpayers), and/or to those who currently occupy it (workers or residents) in the form of private, negotiable shares. This subcategory of privatization can be called Mutualization.

Although Mutualization sounds very similar to some forms of socialism but its not. Here ownership is not being transferred to collectives or workers holistically (in the abstract). Instead ownership here is quantifiable and sellable in the form of shares. Even today publicly traded corporations may be partly owned by employees in the form of shares but that is hardly considered socialism.