Institutional reforms, productivity and profitability: From rents to competition?

Competition and Productivity – Evidence from Indian Manufacturing Sector Reforms

The extensive reform measures introduced in the early 90s in India provide a unique opportunity to study policy experiments aimed at reducing barriers to entry and increasing product market competition. We use a rich, comprehensive, plant-level dataset for the period 1986-87 to 1994-95 to identify the effects of de-licensing, liberalization of foreign direct investment (FDI) and the reduction o...

The effects of structural reforms on productivity and profitability enhancing reallocation: evidence from Colombia

Estimates for the U.S. suggest that at least in some sectors productivity enhancing reallocation is the dominant factor in accounting for productivity growth. An open question, particularly relevant for developing countries, is whether reallocation is always productivity enhancing. It may be that imperfect competition or other barriers to competitive environments imply that the reallocation pro...

Profitability Measures and Competition Law

Economists and antitrust authorities recognize that firms with market power often raise prices above competitive levels and thus earn monopolistic profits that exceed the competitive cost of capital. In both the U.S. and Europe, this recognition has led antitrust authorities (and courts) to consider profitability evidence when determining whether a firm has market power. In Europe, unlike the U...

Institutional Reforms and Electricity Access: Lessons from Bangladesh and Thailand

The paper discusses the institutional reforms for rural electrification (RE) in Thailand and Bangladesh and analyses the impacts of private sector participation in electricity generation and tariff reforms on the poor in Thailand. RE program in Thailand, initiated in 1977, increased electricity access by rural households from 7% in early 70s to 97% by 2000. In Bangladesh the RE program, initiat...

How Effective Are Institutional Reforms?