Deadline: January 31, 2018

The World Bank invites paper submissions on Product Market Competition, Regulation and Inclusive Growth for presentation at the 1st Joint IMF-OECD-World Bank Conference on Structural Reforms. The aim of the conference is to bring together policymakers and practitioners, international institutions, and leading academics to shed light on these issues from both practical and research perspectives, and draw robust and novel policy implications.

Conference Topics

Some of the key questions the conference will cover include:

• How has product market competition including in key sectors changed since the 1990s?
• What are the causes for the changes (e.g. disruptive technological change, network effects, globalization, product market regulatory reforms, anticompetitive behavior and strategic firm behavior)?
• What are the consequences of changing product market competition for productivity growth, the wage share and income distribution? What are the implications for competition policy and market regulation?
• What does the most recent research show on the micro- and macro-economic effects of product market reforms?
• Are there differences in product market reform priorities between advanced and emerging-market countries? What criteria can be used to sequence reforms?
• What are the complementary policy actions needed to maximize the impact of reforms on product market competition, innovation and inclusive growth?
• What have we learned from past experiences with changes in regulation and from broader research about the political economy drivers of product market reforms?
• Who are the champions and supporters of these reforms?

The conference will feature a high-level policy panel and keynote speakers including Philippe Aghion (College de France and London School of Economics), Ufuk Akcigit (University of Chicago), and Alejandra Palacios (Chair of COFECE, the Competition Commission of Mexico).

Benefits

Financial support will be provided to cover speakers’ travel and hotel expenses.

Eligibility

• The organising committee is soliciting papers on the areas outlines above. Papers using macro-econometric, micro-econometric, case study and model-based analyses of the effects of product market reforms are welcome.
• Preference will be given to papers that have a significant empirical content and/or those with direct.
• Extended abstracts will also be accepted but preference will be given to full drafts.Application

Please submit papers to the organisers by 31 January 2018, copied to:

Patricia Neidlinger ([email protected]),Ivana Ticha ([email protected]), and toAmelia Godber ([email protected]).Only authors of accepted papers will be notified of the decision, which will be communicated by 16 March 2018. Final drafts will be due by 31 May 2018.

More information here.