Regulation In Services: OECD Patterns And Economic Implications

Abstract

The paper looks at patterns of regulation in service industries and explores their implications for service performance. Focusing on restrictions to market mechanisms, a map of the state of service regulation in OECD countries is provided, based on data recently collected and summarised by the OECD. The paper also surveys the available cross-country empirical evidence on the effects of regulatory reform on service productivity, prices and innovation. Finally, it discusses ways in which regulation can encourage competition, efficiency and investment in those segments of the service industries where non-competitive elements persist. The main conclusions reached are: i) in the past two decades OECD governments extensively reformed regulatory environments in both competitive and network service industries, generally making them closer to market mechanisms; ii) however due to differences in initial conditions and in the pace of reform, within each service industry the dispersion of ... Cette etude analyse les approches reglementaires dans les secteurs des services et explore leurs implications pour les performances sectorielles dans les pays de l’OCDE. En concentrant l’attention sur les restrictions imposees aux mecanismes de marche, l’etude decrit l’etat de la regulation des services en 1998 a partir des donnees recemment rassemblees par l’OCDE. L’etude examine aussi l’evidence empirique concernant les effets de la reforme de la reglementation sur la productivite, les prix et l’innovation dans les services. Enfin, elle analyse la maniere dont la regulation peut encourager la concurrence, l’efficience et l’investissement dans les marches des services ou il existe encore des segments non-concurrentiels. Les principales conclusions sont : i) au cours des deux dernieres decennies les gouvernements de l’OCDE ont reforme d’une facon extensive les reglementations concernant les services purement concurrentiels et les services de reseaux ; ii) pourtant, a cause de ...