Letters: Privatisation deaths

Neil Clark (Vaclav Havel: another side to the story, 18 December) cites a 2009 study in the Lancet that purports to show that mass privatisation in post-communist countries was responsible for "as many as 1 million" premature deaths. Clark would have been wise to note two subsequent studies, also published in the Lancet, one by us. Both find the results reported in the original study are simply not robust. There is no evidentiary basis to claim a link between mass privatisation and mortality.
John Earle
Professor of public policy, George Mason University, Virginia, USA
Scott Gehlbach
Professor of political science, University of Wisconsin, USA