This is the first book to use a comparative approach to examine the effect of different constitutional and legal traditions on privatization. Focusing on privatization in the UK and France, Graham and Prosser suggest that the British Government was remarkably free from constitutional limitation, whereas in France the written constitution imposed important restrictions on the scope of privatization and on the arrangements for the pricing of shares. This detailed analysis of the effect of legal constraints on economic policy adds a constitutional dimension to what has primarily been seen as an economic issue, and will make a unique and valuable contribution to current debates in political studies.