Online marketplaces matching third-party sellers with consumers are now key e-commerce channels globally. Despite their popularity and the benefits they bring to consumers, they do present a number of risks. This report summarises results from a 2021 OECD survey of 28 countries and 15 platform...

Market studies have recently risen to prominence in Australia’s competition policy. This article explains the role of market studies and makes the case that they are an important and complementary part of the toolkit for a competition enforcement agency.

This report provides an accessible review of the transmission and distribution networks and energy retail markets in eastern and southern Australia over 2019 and the early months of 2020.

As part of the series OECD Best Practice Principles for Regulatory Policy, this report extends and elaborates on principles highlighted in the 2012 Recommendation of the Council on Regulatory Policy and Governance.

While the NDIS promises to improve the lives of more than 400,000 Australians with a disability, the scheme has been marred by a range of implementation challenges. In particular, there has been much concern over 'thin' markets. This report draws together the international literature on...

Plug and Play 2: Enabling distributed generation through effective grid connection standards is the second report for this project. It follows a consultation paper released in February 2017, titled Plug and Play: Facilitating grid connection of low emissions technologies.

Talk of ‘platforms’ – or the ‘sharing economy’ – sometimes seems to be ubiquitous. But how significant is this model, and what kinds of policy and regulatory issues is it raising?

Despite impressive economic performance, Vietnam’s strong trade and investment gains have yet to fully overcome the vestiges of its economic past.

This research paper outlines a three pronged strategy that would help achieve better outcomes for all Australians and foster public confidence in open markets.

This report analyses the financial performance of the New Zealand fuel sector from 2011 to 2015.

Urgent action is needed to reduce the risk of power blackouts and restrictions across eastern Australia this summer, but there is an acute danger of politicians panicking and rushing to decisions that push electricity prices higher and make it harder to reduce Australia’s emissions.

The independence of regulators is constantly under stress. This report provides practical advice on how to address stress points and protect economic regulators from undue influence, drawing on the experience of over 80 regulators that participate in the OECD Network of Economic Regulators.

Internationally, there is a trend towards end users procuring electricity from offsite Renewable Energy (RE) facilities located at physical premises distinct from the point of end use. In 2015, end user Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) in the United States underpinned more new wind capacity than...

This report discusses electricity market design and regulation under high volumes of variable renewable energy sources (VRE) such as wind and solar power. It includes policy recommendations on how to reform current market and regulatory frameworks in order to accommodate high shares of VRE, in...

An important component of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision's framework of capital measurement and capital standards is the public disclosure of regulatory information (referred to as “Pillar 3” within the framework). The standard sets minimum requirements for the public disclosure of information on banks’...

This report discusses how high frequency trading (HFT) has changed the dynamics of the market and whether traditional academic measures of market “quality” are relevant in the new world of electronic trading. Using existing measures of market quality, which were designed over 20 years ago...

Summary The paper tracks the development of the Australian vocational education and training (VET) provider market over the last two decades in the context of significant policy changes and generally increased competition. It provides an insight into how the sector has arrived at its current...

The net effects of algorithmic and high-frequency traders mask considerable heterogeneity in how they impact institutional transaction costs. Using regulatory data, we analyze the heterogeneity across individual trading accounts. We develop a method to identify subsets of traders causally related to higher institutional transaction costs...

This working paper presents the results of a detailed comparative empirical study of sanctions imposed for insider trading in Australia, Canada (Ontario), Hong Kong, Singapore, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Insider trading is considered to be a serious form of misconduct...

A study of market bubbles is generally considered a test of market eciency (or ineciency) since bubbles are concerned with rising prices that are detached from their fundamental values. Verifying the existence of such an ineciency requires us to be able to appropriately formulate fundamental...

We introduce an endogenous network model of the interbank overnight lending market. Banks are motivated to meet the minimum reserve requirements set by the Central Bank, but their reserves are subject to random shocks. To adjust their expected end-of-the-day reserves, banks enter the interbank market...

In this paper we investigate if directors of Australian companies earn persistent profits on their reported trades, if these abnormal profits are significant enough to be mimicked by outsiders, and if these insider trades have an effect on returns of other investors. We find that...

The catalyst for the preparation of this working paper was the epochal merger in 2007 of the New York Stock Exchange with Paris-based Euronext, itself a consolidation of several European exchanges. Exchange mergers were not a new phenomenon; domestic and regional exchanges had been consolidating...

The authoritative compendium of statistics on merchandise exports and imports, this publication analyses the growth, direction and commodity breakdown of Australia's trade over the past three years. It also includes individual reports showing the composition of trade with Australia's top 25 trading partners and selected...

This Quick Guide provides a brief background to Australia’s preferential trade agreements (PTAs; often referred to as free trade agreements), in particular what they are, what they cover and commentary on whether they have been effective in increasing Australia’s wider economic welfare. What are Preferential...