Competition and Inflation

The relationship between prices and competition is well established, with low levels of competition contributing to higher price levels. However, the link between competition and price increases (inflation) appears less clear-cut. Further, whether or not competition is an important driver of inflationary pressures, an inflationary environment may have meaningful implications for competition policy.

On 30 November 2022, the OECD Competition Committee held a roundtable to discuss competition and inflation. The topic was again explored during the 2023 OECD Competition Open Day, an event open to the public.

This page contains all related documentation. 

• Although there were mixed views on the extent to which competition played an important role in reducing inflation, there was an overall agreement on the potential for anti-competitive conduct to worsen inflation and for competitive markets to act to depress inflation over the longer term.
• Participants shared the various measures taken by their jurisdictions in response to the current increase in inflation. It was clear that understanding the causes behind price increases and whether these are caused by competition issues was important.
• It is important to advocate competition: increased competition can lower prices during such times.
• Some advocated strongly for the need to invest in competition now in order to benefit from it in the future, for example through its potential to depress inflation over time. 

OECD note | Note de l'OCDE

Note by Jacob Linger, Hal Singer, Ted Tatos

Note by Natalie Chen

Detailed Summary of the discussion EN | FR

Executive Summary with key findings EN | FR