How Can We Boost Competition in the Services Sector?

Abstract: ‘How Can We Boost Competition in the Services Sector?’ is a key question in the process of creating a more effi-cient economic environment in Germany. This book contains a collection of conference contributions on service sector reforms from members of academic institutions, ministries, the EU Commission and other organisations. The conference consisted of a keynote on the importance and implementation of structural reforms in Europe and two panels that dealt with the evaluation of past reforms in the services sector and the potential scope and effects of further reforms.

Since the 1990s, productivity growth in Germany and other Member States of the European Union has been significantly lower than in the US. The development of productivity growth in the services sector is estimated to account for two thirds of this widening gap. The European Commission advocated reforms in the services sector in its country-specific recommendations for Germany. At a conference in Berlin in July 2016, experts from various fields presented and discussed studies on service sector reforms.

With contributions by Oliver Holtemöller, Brigitte Zypries, Joaquim Nunes de Almeida, Dirk Palige, Henrik Enderlein, Stefan Profit, Davud Rostam-Afschar, Paolo Mengano, Oliver Arentz, Erik Canton, Jochen Andritzky