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International Conference
on Reviewing the Global Experience with
Economic Regulation
A Forward Looking
Perspective
April 18-20, 2011, New Delhi, India
Background and Context
The term ‘regulation’ is
associated with such broad usage that its relevance is seen in almost
all walks of life. It has, therefore, been classified into various
types, one major class being ‘economic regulation’ or regulation that
directly affects the number of firms operating in markets, the quantity
transacted in each market and shares of participating firms in the
transacted amount, and finally, the prices at which these transactions
are carried out. Such direct effects might in turn impact the quality of
output, the pace of innovation etc.
While there is a fair bit of
consensus on the definition of ‘economic regulation’ there is wide
disagreement and confusion about the rationale for such regulation.
Neo-classical economists consider regulation to be necessitated by
market failures, either arising out of the intrinsic characteristics of
the industry (externalities, asymmetries information and market
failures) or engineered by man through actions that violate the spirit
of fair competition. Yet others see it as a means for reducing inequity,
including that brought about by unequal distribution of endowments.
Such lack of consensus
implies that it is often difficult to define a methodology for measuring
quality of economic regulation or even an agenda for consumer
participation in regulation that meets the approval of even the majority
of experts and practitioners. Disagreement about parameters for
evaluation in turn imply that regulatory change rarely follows a linear
path and is often prey to the whimsies of personalities and the
prevailing political environment.
This conference would be a
humble attempt to forge some agreement on the mentioned issues by
putting on display different approaches for rationalising and evaluating
regulation as well as defining stakeholder participation in such
regulation; and then inviting discussion and debate among students,
experts and practitioners with varying perspectives from different parts
of the world.
CUTS would not only showcase
its own work on regulation but invite papers both from targeted experts
and through an open competition judged by an international panel. The
idea would be to showcase the heterogeneity of approaches currently in
vogue in regard to the following areas:
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Theory: Competition
assessment, consumer impact assessment, regulatory impact assessment,
other qualitative approaches
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Actual case studies of
sector regulation
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