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...

This study empirically investigates the impact of public procurement regulation quality on the competition for tenders and the cost-effectiveness of awarded contracts, by employing the World Bank's Benchmarking Public Procurement and EuroPAM Public Procurement quality scores. Using extensive...

This document (of 147 pages) contains the proceedings of a one-day roundtable on competition issues relating to government procurement, held at the OECD in June 1998. The publication includes submissions from 12 OECD member countries describing the regulatory regime for procurement and the...

The economic importance of public procurement within the EU is undeniable, given its pre-eminent role in the overall economic performance of the Union. Its regulation is thus conceived as a priority. Further, the creation of an EU-wide level playing field for economic operators is submitted as...

This paper highlights the large contribution of services to the Brazilian economy and the under-exploited potential of services to sustain productivity gains and international competitiveness. The areas with the largest potential for regulatory reform include improvements in the general business...

GATT Article III:4 aims at equal treatment in respect of competitive opportunities of imports and competing domestic products by preventing protectionism. A key question is whether regulations with heavier burdens on imported products than on domestic products and a valid regulatory purpose are...

The EU's single market in government purchases constitutes a fundamental pillar of economic integration throughout the continent, as it amounts to 4% of GDP. If competition is deficient efficiency losses ensue. As we know surprisingly little about the effectiveness of monitoring and enforcement...

This paper empirically investigates the impact of public procurement regulation quality on competition and cost-effectiveness. I employ the World Bank's Benchmarking Public Procurement quality scores. Using extensive data about public procurement in the European Economic Area, Switzerland, and...

The development of a more competition-oriented public procurement system is possible, on the basis of the principle of competition that is embedded in the EC public procurement Directives. This paper explores the existence of the principle of competition, roughly delimits its scope, and broadly...

Maintaining rapid economic growth depends increasingly on productivity gains, particularly in the service sector. Competition has an important role to play in achieving such gains. However, Korea’s development strategy has tended to weaken competition and has left a legacy of government...