Markets do not always work efficiently, harming consumers and society. When this happens, competition authorities may seek to better understand the dynamics of competition in a given market or sector, in order to identify the reasons for poor performance and recommend policy options for dealing with them.
Market studies usually involve an in-depth assessment of market structures or competitive conditions in a given sector; and aim to detect inefficiencies arising from weak competition, even if they do not identify behaviour violating competition laws. There are conceptual and procedural differences regarding market studies among competition authorities.
In December 2023, the OECD Global Forum on competition held a discussion on the role of market studies as a tool to promote competition. The discussion studied the results of the OECD survey on market studies and how this can be categorised according to their main purpose (competition advocacy/pre-enforcement) with an overview of the triggers for each type of study. It also looked at variations in procedural and analytical methodologies to help identify practices that competition authorities can consider when undertaking market studies. Participants interacted with delegations in order to collect material to produce a manual on capacity building for market studies. A Market Studies Guide for Competition Authorities was published in 2018.
The summary of this discussion can be accessed here and the page contains all session information and materials.
