OECD Economics Department Working Papers
Working papers from the Economics Department of the OECD that cover the full range of the Department’s work including the economic situation, policy analysis and projections; fiscal policy, public expenditure and taxation; and structural issues including ageing, growth and productivity, migration, environment, human capital, housing, trade and investment, labour markets, regulatory reform, competition, health, and other issues.
The views expressed in these papers are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the OECD or of the governments of its member countries.
- Forthcoming titles
- ISSN: 18151973 (online)
- https://doi.org/10.1787/18151973
How to Move Product Market Regulation in New Zealand Back Towards the Frontier
From the mid-1980s, New Zealand was widely considered to be a leader in liberalising product market
regulation (PMR). However, the reform of PMR has lost momentum over recent years. Many areas of
PMR are still consistent with best practice, but New Zealand is no longer assessed to be at the forefront of
regulatory policy making. Although economic geography clearly offers a partial explanation for the
relative underperformance of the NZ economy, restrictive policies in some areas are also likely to be
constraining growth in GDP per capita. Indeed, it is likely that being small and distant exacerbates the
negative impact of restrictive product market policies on New Zealand’s economic performance. This
implies a genuine need to shift the regulatory framework back towards the OECD frontier. Ongoing
improvements in regulatory governance, minimising the government’s influence in competitive markets
and lowering barriers to trade and FDI, including ongoing policy harmonisation and mutual recognition
with trading partners where appropriate, would all help in this regard. This Working Paper relates to the
2011 Economic Survey of New Zealand (www.oecd.org/eco/surveys/NewZealand).
Keywords: institutions, New Zealand, productivity, product market regulation, indicators
JEL:
K23: Law and Economics / Regulation and Business Law / Regulated Industries and Administrative Law;
L25: Industrial Organization / Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior / Firm Performance: Size, Diversification, and Scope;
L43: Industrial Organization / Antitrust Issues and Policies / Legal Monopolies and Regulation or Deregulation;
L11: Industrial Organization / Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance / Production, Pricing, and Market Structure; Size Distribution of Firms;
L5: Industrial Organization / Regulation and Industrial Policy;
D24: Microeconomics / Production and Organizations / Production; Cost; Capital; Capital, Total Factor, and Multifactor Productivity; Capacity;
L12: Industrial Organization / Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance / Monopoly; Monopolization Strategies;
D: Microeconomics;
D04: Microeconomics / General / Microeconomic Policy: Formulation, Implementation, and Evaluation
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