单选题 In both developed and developing nations, governments finance, produce, and distribute various goods and services. In recent years, the range of goods provided by the government has extended broadly, including many goods that do not meet the economic purist's definition of "public goods". As the size of the public sector has increased steadily,there has been a growing concern about the effectiveness of the public sector's performance as producer.
Critics argue that the public provision of certain goods is inefficient and have proposed that the private sector should replace many current public sector activities, that is, these services should be privatized. Since 1980s, greater privatization efforts have been pursued in the United States.
Concurrent with this trend has been a strong endorsement (support) by international bilateral donor (aid) agencies for heavier reliance on the private sector in developing countries. The underlying claim is that the private sector can improve the quality of outputs and deliver goods more quickly and less expensively than the public sector in these countries.
This claim, however, has mixed theoretical support and little empirical verification in the Third World. The political, institutional, and economic environments of developing nations are markedly different from those of developed countries. It is not clear that the theories and empirical evidence that claim to justify privatization in developed countries are applicable to developing nations. Often policy makers in developing nations do not have sufficient information to design effective policy shifts to increase efficiency of providing goods through private initiatives. Additionally,there is a lack of basic understanding about what policy variables need to be altered to attain desired outcomes of privatization in developing countries.
One study of privatization in Honduras examined the policy shift from "direct administration" to "contracting out" for three construction activities: urban upgrading for housing projects, rural primary schools, and rural roads. It tested key hypotheses applying to the effectiveness of privatization, focusing on three aspects: cost, time, and quality.
The main finding was that contracting out in Honduras did not lead to the common expectations of its proponents because institutional barriers and limited competitiveness in the marketplace have prevented private contractors from improving quality and reducing the time and cost required for construction.
Privatization in developing countries cannot produce goods and services efficiently without substantial reform in the market and regulatory procedures. Policy makers interested in privatization as a policy measure should consider carefully the multiple objectives at the national level.

单选题 It can be inferred from the text that economic purists ______

A. oppose shifting goods from public to private.
B. support the substantial reform of privatization.
C. approve privatization only in developed nations.
D. have a strict description of public merchandise.

单选题 Since 1980s, there has been ______

A. broad international support for privatization.
B. much evidence for privatization in poor nations.
C. endorsement for privatization of donor agencies.
D. maximum dependence on private capital in the U. S..

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】[解析] 本题为细节题。根据第二段最后一句“Since 1980s, greater privatization efforts have been pursued in the United States．”可知美国自20世纪80年代以来进行了更大规模的私有化，而D项“美国最大限度依赖私有资本”与句意不符，应予排除。根据第三段的第一句“Concurrent with this trend has been a strong endorsement (support) by international bilateral donor (aid) agencies for heavier reliance on the private sector in developing countries．”可知与此潮流同时出现的是国际双边援助机构大力支持发展中国家更多地依靠私有经济，所以正确答案为A项“国际上对私有化的广泛支持”。

单选题 The authorities of developing nations seem incapable of ______

A. attaining political stability.
B. making major policy shifts.
C. upgrading basic urban economy.
D. enhancing production efficiency.

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】[解析] 本题为细节题。文中第四段的第四句“Often policy makers in developing nations do not have sufficient information to design effective policy shifts to increase efficiency of providing goods through private initiatives．”是此题的考点所在，这里的“(do not) have sufficient information to design effective policy shifts to increase efficiency of providing goods”与D项“enhancing production efficiency”相对应，故正确答案为D。而A项“达成政治稳定”，B项“做出重大政策转变”，C项“提高基础城市经济”，均与句意不符。