Trade and Competition Policies for Tomorrow

The links between trade policy and competition policy have become more important in recent years. With tariff reductions, trade negotiators are looking increasingly at non-border policies that distort trade and at non-governmental barriers to trade. And, as official barriers to trade and investment fall, firms may have a greater incentive to engage in anti-competitive conduct to protect markets. Hence the need for coherent trade and competition policies. Trade and competition policies each seek to improve the allocation of resources; they complement and reinforce each other. These papers from the OECD Joint Group on Trade and competition examine aspects of those complementarities and relationships and in so doing draw on the OECD’s capacity to analyse questions in a multidisciplinary way. This book -- which includes a whole chapter on the telecommunications sector -- throws new light on all these issues in the lead up to the WTO's new round of negotiations. But whatever the outcome of Seattle, the questions raised in this volume will remain relevant.