List of contributors. Acknowledgment. The performance of privatization stocks in emerging markets: the role of political risk (F.E. Huibers, E. Perotti). On partial sales and underpricing in privatization (Seung-doo Choi). Role of ownership in Chinese privatization: empirical evidence From returns in IPOS of Chinese A-Shares, 1990-1993 (Chak Tong Chau, C.S. Ciccotello and C.T. Grant). An empirical investigation of the relationship between ownership structure and operating performance of newly privatized Czech firms (J.T. Harper, T. Krehbiel). Financial systems in ex-Soviet block transition economies (L.D. Johnson, E.H. Neave and B. Pazderka). How does privatization work? evidence from Italian banking system (M. Giorgino, E. Magnani).