Publication:
Building Landmarks, Smoothing Out Markets: An Enhanced Competition Framework in Romania

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Files in English
English PDF (2.09 MB)
995 downloads
Date
2016
ISSN
Published
2016
Abstract
Romania identified competition as key to its effective economic development and is positioning the Competition Council to become more visible and effective. Improving Romania’s competitive environment will attract new firms, weed out inefficient ones, and enhance growth potential. An effective competition policy leads to success in the areas of Romania's domestic market efficiency, economic growth and European market integration. Following a comprehensive functional review of the Romanian Competition Council carried out by the World Bank in 2010, weaknesses, needs and priorities were identified. This book presents the results of the World Bank’s Advisory Services which were designed to provide solutions in the identified reform areas during 2012-2015.
Link to Data Set
Citation
Aprahamian, Arabela; Pop, Georgiana. Aprahamian, Arabela; Pop, Georgiana, editors. 2016. Building Landmarks, Smoothing Out Markets: An Enhanced Competition Framework in Romania. World Bank Study;. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/23147 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.
Associated URLs
Associated content
Report Series
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue

Related items

Showing items related by metadata.

  • Publication
    Does More Intense Competition Lead to Higher Growth?
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2000-04) Hayri, Aydin; Dutz, Mark A.
    The relationship between the intensity of competition in an economy and its long-run growth is an open question in economics. Theoretically, there is no clear-cut answer. Empirical evidence exists, however, that in some sectors more competition leads to more innovation, and accelerates productivity growth. To complement those findings, and capture economy-wide effects, the authors conduct a cross-country study. They examine the impact on growth of various measures having to do with intensity of domestic competition - beyond the effects of trade liberalization. Their results indicate a strong correlation between long-run growth, and effective enforcement of antitrust, and competition policy.
  • Publication
    Infrastructure Regulation : A Review of International Instruments and Compliance Mechanisms
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2002-06-20) Alexandrov, Stanimir A.
    The paper reviews first the most formal such instruments, such as bilateral and multilateral treaties, that include commitments regarding regulatory processes and/or outcomes. Next, it will consider less formal instruments, such as institutional guidelines and model rules, that promote principles for regulatory good practices. Finally, it will consider the different mechanisms available to promote compliance with these norms using both binding and non-binding devices. Two tables summarizing the assessments of these instruments and compliance mechanisms are appended at the conclusion of the report.Furthermore, this paper undertakes to review the international instruments that incorporate standards for domestic regulatory good practices or move toward creating international regulatory regimes, and the mechanisms that promote or secure compliance with those good practices and regimes.
  • Publication
    Romania - Functional Review : Romania Competition Council
    (Washington, DC, 2010-10) World Bank
    The European Union is founded on a competitive market economy unified by commonly agreed rules and practices. While Romania has joined the Union, its ability to prosper fully within the common market requires a strengthened commitment to, and ability to protect, EU competition principles. Romania's legal and organizational framework for enhancing competition is tenuous and the current economic and fiscal crisis puts recent gains at risk. In particular, Romania's performance in competition policy still lags behind EU practice and is characterized by: (i) State-owned enterprises and government participation still play a dominant role in many important markets and sectors in Romania, controlling at least one firm in 14 key sectors of the economy and exhibiting a market share above 50% in at least one segment of network industries. (ii) Relatively low enforcement of competition policy against hard-core cartels and abusive practices while merger review cases that do not significantly impose threats to competition account for the bulk of the workload in the competition area. (iii) Low staffing for competition enforcement and economic analysis placing the Romania Competition Council (RCC) at the bottom of European Union rankings with no internal target deadlines to track performance. (iv) Active advocacy activities mainly focus on raising awareness of the importance of competition law but efforts need to be made to refocus activity on tackling anticompetitive regulation, expand advocacy to key groups within the government and implement alternative advocacy tools. A comprehensive reform program therefore is required at the national level, as well as within the Romanian Competition Council (RCC) as the key agency in guaranteeing healthy competition. Priority actions, further detailed in this report, include the following: (i) improve the competitive environment by reducing the dominant role of the state in several economic sectors, (ii) provide space for a redoubled RCC focus on competition enforcement establish a new unit within RCC to target hard core anti-competitive behavior take immediate steps, within the principles of the government's unified pay system, to ensure a level of compensation to core RCC competition staff commensurate with their responsibilities in front of the judiciary and private sector.
  • Publication
    Corporate Market Power in Romania
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-12) Pop, Georgiana; Iootty, Mariana; Pena, Jorge
    This paper explores firm-level heterogeneity to identify the underlying drivers of market power trends in Romania and the implications for competition and economic growth. The results show that the (sales-weighted) average markup in Romania increased by around 15 percent between 2008 and 2017. A key driving force behind this aggregate trend was the ability of a small fraction of firms -- the top decile firms in the markup distribution -- to increase their markups. These firms do not seem to follow the typical superstar firms' profile: they are smaller, less efficient, and less likely to invest in intangible assets than other firms in the markup distribution and overrepresented in less knowledge-intensive service sectors (for example, the retail and trade sector). This suggests that the increase in markups in Romania might be associated with an environment that is less conducive to competition. A decomposition exercise shows that the increase in aggregate markups has been driven mostly by incumbents rather than new entrants and exiting firms, which could be interpreted as a sign of consolidation of market power among existing firms. The paper also finds that certain firm characteristics matter to explain differences in markup performance: size, age, research and development profile, export propensity, location, and especially ownership. Further, the paper shows that additional productivity dividends are associated with increased competition in Romania. Overall, these findings illustrate potential policy angles that need to be tackled to enhance market contestability and boost productivity growth, such as addressing regulations that restrict entry and rivalry in the retail trade sector, which concentrates a substantial proportion of high-markup firms, as well as promoting competitive neutrality across markets where public and private actors compete.
  • Publication
    China in Regional Trade Agreements : Competition Provisions
    (World Bank, 2009-06-30) World Bank
    This report is structured in three volumes: competition provisions; environment provisions; and labor mobility provisions. The main messages of this three volumes are as follows: 1) competition laws and policies are increasingly being established at the regional level, as they could be instrumental in supporting the benefits of trade and investment liberalization; 2) China may want to use the opportunity of these negotiations to: (a) further discipline its state-owned enterprises;(b) carefully consider the possible role of antidumping policies; and (c) promote and lock-in domestic reforms aimed at improving its domestic competition policies; 3) with a shift of the development agenda from primarily pursuing growth to achieving a more balanced and sustainable development and taking into account China's high reliance on trade, it may be increasingly in China's interest to pro-actively engage its partners on environmental issues in its regional trade agreement (RTA) negotiations; and 4) while the world economy stands to gain massively from liberalization in the mobility of labor, adverse popular reaction to the economic and social impacts of immigrants has kept progress in enhancing global labor mobility well below progress in trade and capital liberalization.

Users also downloaded

Showing related downloaded files

  • Publication
    Changing the Face of the Waters : The Promise and Challenge of Sustainable Aquaculture
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2007) World Bank
    This study provides strategic orientations and recommendations for Bank client countries and suggests approaches for the Bank's role in a rapidly changing industry with high economic potential. It identifies priorities and options for policy adjustments, catalytic investments, and entry points for the Bank and other investors to foster environmentally friendly, wealth-creating, and sustainable aquaculture. The objectives of the study are to inform and provide guidance on sustainable aquaculture to decision makers in the international development community and in client countries of international finance institutions. The study focuses on several critical issues and challenges: 1) Harnessing the contribution of aquaculture to economic development, including poverty alleviation and wealth creation, to employment and to food security and trade, particularly for least developed countries (LDCs); 2) Building environmentally sustainable aquaculture, including the role of aquaculture in the broader suite of environmental management measures; 3) Creating the enabling conditions for sustainable aquaculture, including the governance, policy, and regulatory frameworks, and identifying the roles of the public and private sectors; and 4) Developing and transferring human and institutional capacity in governance, technologies, and business models with special reference to the application of lessons from Asia to Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America.
  • Publication
    Disease Control Priorities, Third Edition
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2016-04-06) Black, Robert; Laxminarayan, Ramanan; Temmerman, Marleen; Walker, Neff; Black, Robert; Laxminarayan, Ramanan; Temmerman, Marleen; Walker, Neff
    This book focuses on maternal conditions, childhood illness, and malnutrition. Specifically, the chapters address acute illness and undernutrition in children, principally under age 5. It also covers maternal mortality, morbidity, stillbirth, and influences to pregnancy and pre-pregnancy. It also includes the transition to older childhood, in particular, the overlap and commonality with the child development volume.
  • Publication
    World Development Report 2021
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2021-03-24) World Bank
    Today’s unprecedented growth of data and their ubiquity in our lives are signs that the data revolution is transforming the world. And yet much of the value of data remains untapped. Data collected for one purpose have the potential to generate economic and social value in applications far beyond those originally anticipated. But many barriers stand in the way, ranging from misaligned incentives and incompatible data systems to a fundamental lack of trust. World Development Report 2021: Data for Better Lives explores the tremendous potential of the changing data landscape to improve the lives of poor people, while also acknowledging its potential to open back doors that can harm individuals, businesses, and societies. To address this tension between the helpful and harmful potential of data, this Report calls for a new social contract that enables the use and reuse of data to create economic and social value, ensures equitable access to that value, and fosters trust that data will not be misused in harmful ways. This Report begins by assessing how better use and reuse of data can enhance the design of public policies, programs, and service delivery, as well as improve market efficiency and job creation through private sector growth. Because better data governance is key to realizing this value, the Report then looks at how infrastructure policy, data regulation, economic policies, and institutional capabilities enable the sharing of data for their economic and social benefits, while safeguarding against harmful outcomes. The Report concludes by pulling together the pieces and offering an aspirational vision of an integrated national data system that would deliver on the promise of producing high-quality data and making them accessible in a way that promotes their safe use and reuse. By examining these opportunities and challenges, the Report shows how data can benefit the lives of all people, but particularly poor people in low- and middle-income countries.
  • Publication
    Early Child Development, From Measurement to Action : A priority for Growth and Equity
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2007) Young, Mary Eming; Richardson, Linda M.
    The World Bank recently hosted a symposium on the priority of early child development (ECD) for economic growth and equity. The participants urged application of population-based tools and measures to assess the outcomes of children's early years and children's readiness for school. This study is derived from the symposium and is a valuable resource for policy makers, economists, donors, and investors, as well as researchers and practitioners in early child development. It summarizes the current neuroscience on early child development and major longitudinal studies, the rationale and urgency for greater investment, and countries' innovative funding strategies. The report consists of 15 chapters authored by ECD experts and leaders in the field. The chapters are grouped into five main parts relating to the: business imperative and societal benefits of ECD investments; lessons from evaluation of longitudinal ECD interventions; countries' experiences in monitoring ECD interventions; innovative approaches to countries' financing of ECD initiatives; and next steps on the ECD agenda for the next 5 years. A theme highlighted at the symposium and enlarged upon here is the urgent need for evidence- and population-based instruments and measures to monitor, evaluate, and compare ECD interventions over time and across settings.
  • Publication
    Climate Change and Migration : Evidence from the Middle East and North Africa
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2014-07-15) Bougnoux, Nathalie; Wodon, Quentin; Liverani, Andrea; Joseph, George; Wodon, Quentin; Liverani, Andrea; Joseph, George; Bougnoux, Nathalie
    Climate change is a major source of concern in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, and migration is often understood as one of several strategies used by households to respond to changes in climate and environmental conditions, including extreme weather events. This study focuses on the link between climate change and migration. Most micro-level studies measure climate change either by the incidences of extreme weather events or by variation in temperature or rainfall. A few studies have found that formal and informal institutions as well as policies also affect migration. Institutions that make government more responsive to households (for example through public spending) discourage both international and domestic migration in the aftermath of extreme weather events. Migration is often an option of last resort after vulnerable rural populations attempting to cope with new and challenging circumstances have exhausted other options such as eating less, selling assets, or removing children from school. This study is based in large part on new data collected in 2011 in Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Syria, and the Republic of Yemen. The surveys were administered by in-country partners to a randomly selected set of 800 households per country. It is also important to emphasize that neither the household survey results nor the findings from the qualitative focus groups are meant to be representative of the five countries in which the work was carried, since only a few areas were surveyed in each country. This report is organized as follows: section one gives synthesis. Section two discusses household perceptions about climate change and extreme weather events. Section three focuses on migration as a coping mechanisms and income diversification strategy. Section four examines other coping and adaptation strategies. Section five discusses perceptions about government and community programs.