However, as indicated elsewhere, findings such as these are by no means unequivocal
and any evaluation tends to be fraught with conceptual and methodological difficulties
(see e.g. Worthington and Britton (2003)). In the last analysis, we may be tempted to
argue that the greatest impact of the privatisation programme has proved to be at a cultural
level: in promoting the idea of the superiority of private enterprise. If emulation is
the sincerest form of flattery, then the number of countries following the UK’s lead in
selling off state assets suggests that promoting free enterprise may have been one of the
country’s most significant exports over recent years.