Herbert B. Schmidt (23 April 1931 - 7 March 2024) was a German economist and public policy advisor, best known for his work in privatization in the former East Germany and Eastern Europe.
[1] Schmidt is considered the author of the "German Method" of privatization, in which shares of a state-owned company are tendered to the private sector buyer offering the best bid considering a number of factors including price, numbers of jobs guaranteed, environmental remediation, and other concerns.
[2] Schmidt was the chief privatization advisor to Estonian Prime Minister Mart Laar,[3] and is a former economics minister of the German Lander of Saxony.
[4] From 1998 to 2001, he was Commissioner of the Securities Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Schmidt's efforts in privatization were particularly detailed in a festschrift published for his 90th birthday.