Poland’s productivity has grown strongly over the past decade, and efforts to reduce the regulatory burden have been significant. Despite impressive progress, product market regulation remains more burdensome than in most OECD countries, partly due to the importance of red tape and the level...

This paper examines how import penetration affects firms' productivity growth taking into account the heterogeneity in firms' distance to the efficiency frontier and country differences in product market regulation. Using firm-level data for a large number of OECD countries, the analysis reveals...

The Internet has become an integral part of the everyday life of households, firms and governments. Its proper functioning over the long run is therefore crucial for economic growth and people’s wellbeing more generally. The success of the Internet depends on its openness and the confidence of...

Economic growth is below what would be needed to resume rapid convergence to average OECD living standards. On-going efforts to improve the business climate are laudable, but need to be widened and strengthened. Much progress has been achieved in reducing red tape, but it is only recently that...

This paper investigates the role played by deregulation on firms’ investment decisions in infrastructure sectors. The analysis covers the period 1980-2006, which was characterised by increased liberalisation and privatisation across OECD countries. We assess the relationship of different...

In the 16 years since the OECD began conducting Economic Surveys of the Russian Federation, a great many policy recommendations relating to structural reform and framework conditions have been made. This paper, expanding on Annex 1.A1 in the 2011 OECD Economic Survey of the Russian Federation,...

This paper uses the OECD’s indicators of product market regulation (PMR) to assess the extent to which the regulatory environment in Russia supports competition and to draw attention to the areas where further reform efforts would pay dividends. The indicators show that, despite improvements...

While the single market has largely been achieved for the EU market for goods, the services sector has lagged behind. This has resulted in sluggish activity, low productivity growth, high prices, that show a wide dispersion and relatively high inflation in this sector. Both the OECD product...

Competition in product markets has been found to be an important determinant of economic performance in developed and developing countries. This paper uses the OECD's indicators of product market regulation (PMR) to assess the extent to which India's regulatory environment is supportive of...

Regulatory reform efforts in a broad range of industries have resulted in increased importance of competitive forces as a means to allocate resources and improve economic efficiency. A number of indicators suggest that such forces have been stronger in the United States than in most other OECD...