Objectives
It is expected that the project will contribute to
a better understanding of the changing nature of competitive pressure on
the enterprise level as a result of the deepening of the process of
European economic integration. By providing new insights about this
important microeconomic change it will contribute to the policy debate
on competition policy in general and, in particular, on competition
policy in the EU. These results will also have a specific policy
relevance for the accession candidates as the Competition policy chapter
is still open in the accession negotiations with all candidate
countries.
The competitive pressure in corporate sector
affects employees and contribute to the general perception of the
market. It may generate or hinder policy steps through which feedback
effect can also occur. The project therefore will capture, in an
international context, the attitude of the organisations of market
players to competitive pressure in the accession countries, as well as
the extent to which they facilitate or obstruct structural reforms, the
prevalence of market competition and mitigation of the social costs of
transformation.
Competitive pressure is most often chanelled by
foreign players on the domestic market. It is expected that this project
will provide robust evidence on the potential for and exploitation of
spillovers in transitional economies.
The most exciting field of research is the link
between competition and labour market. We expect to understand better
the specific effect of strong competitive pressure on the labour market
in accession countries. A disaggregated analysis of these processes will
facilitate a macro-economic analysis of employment and wage responses.
The combination of the relevant segments of the labour markets will
explain the dynamics of the aggregate market during the catch-up
process. It can assist public policy to design educational reform to the
likely skill distribution emerging from the restructuring process.
Easing the rural employment problems in candidate countries - low
overall level of employment, and unnaturally high reliance on
agricultural employment - may require special institutions, especially
if candidate countries want to achieve a significant progress towards
the ambitious Lisbon 2000 employment target. International comparison
will help to separate policy-specific consequences from the features of
the labour markets stemming from general characteristics of
transition.
The project will contribute to the EU’s and
candidate countries’ policy debate on the social costs or
consequences of further liberalisation of markets within enlarged EU,
adding the human capital long term dimension to the usual social
protection short term approach. The rising poverty rates and increasing
income gaps in candidate countries should be addressed from two
perspectives: as a consequence of the system’s transition to the
market economy and as a heritage-of-the-past revealed. Integration could
solve this problem in the long run, but specific actions have to be
undertaken in the short run in order to cope with this
challenge.
Finally, the relationship between competition and
its perception may yield two kinds of results. The first general type of
result is a better understanding of the link between competition, income
differentiation and subjective welfare. The comparative aspect of the
study will be useful in assessing the various links between the nature
of competition and subjective welfare. The second type of result is the
production of information on accession countries’ situation in
terms of public attitudes towards competition, income dispersion and
volatility. This information should be useful at a time when
important changes have to be accepted by the population in order to meet
the accession criteria and the requirements of the “acquis
communautaire”.