2006, Vol.15, No.1

Journal of Regulation Studies 2023 KCI Impact Factor : 0.78

pISSN : 1738-7132
https://journal.kci.go.kr/ksrs2002

An assessment of the competitiveness of a nation is in most cases based on the survey results of such international institutions as the IDM and the WEF. Yet this assessment does not accurately indicate the causality between regulation and the national competitiveness because it simply compares a regulation index with other survey indices within a country or between countries. Utilizing a cross-sectional regression analysis, this article aims at identifying the impacts of regulation on national competitiveness in OECD countries. Results show that national competitiveness measured by the IMD's WCI is affected by a composite index of regulation together with GDP per capita and R&D investment. Further analyses that decompose the regulation index into specific regulatory areas and policies show that regulation of the capital market, price controls, and restrictions on starting a new business have significant impacts on national competitiveness. These results imply that reforming anti-competition policies and utilizing more market-friendly policies are critical to improve national competitiveness in OECD countries.

In Korea, newspaper companies are prohibited to offer premiums more than 20% of annual subscribing price by regulations. Since offering premiums is one of price discrimination strategies in newspaper industry, it is known that offering premiums - gift coupon, rebates, etc. - raises consumer welfare. I theoretically show that if the government keeps the regulation without knowing consumer preference on newspaper and the rate of informed consumer, it might reduces consumer welfare in the newspaper market. On the other hand, Korea's Newspaper Law prescribes that the newspaper companies are presumed as market dominating enterprisers which are prohibited to abuse own market-dominant positions, if one company shares 30% of newspaper market or three companies hold 60% of market share. The regulation of the Newspaper Law is taken the criticism that the law reduces the market effectiveness, because even Korea's general competition law, Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act, stipulates that companies which shares 50% of newspaper market or three of which companies hold 75% of market share are presumed as market dominating enterprisers. I point out the problem of the Newspaper Law's regulation on presumption of market-dominant positions.

Two years ago Korean Government scraped the plan to break up state-run Korea Electric Power Corp's distribution business. The government officials said that the introduction of retail competition would entail risk to hamper realization of public interest to provide residential customers universal access to electric utility service. But the recent evolution of the doctrine of customer service obligations in the U.K and U.S.A demonstrate that vigorous retail competition in the electricity business can coexist with the extraordinary obligations to serve vulnerable residential customers. At the time of regulatory reform the political compromises between economic efficiency and the protection of vulnerable consumers had to be made.