Competition & Regulation

In recent years, the ESRI has carried out many studies with a competition and regulation dimension. At present, our research in this area concentrates on the energy, electronic communications and environmental sectors.

Over the past year, a project supported by the Energy Policy Research Centre analysed the impact of additional interconnection between Ireland and Great Britain on welfare and competition in the Irish electricity market [L.M. Valeri, "Welfare and Competition Effects of Electricity Interconnection between Ireland and Great Britain]. Ongoing work seeks to estimate the costs and benefits of building additional interconnection and renewable generating capacity. In the electronic communications sector, we began research on the adoption of broadband by businesses and households. Using data provided by ComReg and Eircom, we have developed an index of broadband service availability for disaggregated geographical areas in Ireland over time. Researchers also participated in studies of the effects of price regulation on postal service quality and the impact of antitrust regulation on competition at sectoral level.

Turning to the environment, climate change policy has led to the introduction of new property rights. Two recent working papers consider appropriate market mechanisms for trading national allocations of emission permits ["EU Climate Change Policy 2013-2020: Thoughts on Property Rights and Market Choices"] and Clean Development Mechanism Warrants ["EU Climate Change Policy 2013-2020: Using the Clean Development Mechanism More Effectively"]. Other work involving environmental regulation focuses on demand modelling and regulatory options for household waste management services ["Managing Household Waste in Ireland: Behavioural Parameters and Policy Options"].

Future Research

Future research will consider cross-sectoral competition and regulation topics, including:

• The effects of regulatory measures and institutional arrangements on efficiency, incentives for investment and innovation, competition and redistribution.

• Identifying areas of the economy where competition can be strengthened.

• Social and economic effects of public investment and related interventions, particularly on utilities infrastructure and service adoption.

• Governance, ownership and accountability arrangements in regulated sectors.

Over time, in cooperation with other ESRI research programmes, it is envisaged that research on competition and regulation will extend into other areas in which the ESRI has complementary sectoral knowledge, such as transport, waste management, health services and the determinants of firm performance and survival.

Programme Coordinator: Paul K. Gorecki

• View current research in this area
• View recently published research in this area
• View recently published working papers in this area