A study bythe Centre of Planning and Economic Research, on the deregulation process mandated by the bailout program in Greece, shows positive impact on consumption and employment.
The study focused on four commodity markets – baby formula, food supplements and vitamins, bakeries, and cement. These were heavily regulated markets, which have now undergone a liberalisation process that allowed for an expanded range of prices to appear, for the benefit of the consumer.
Furthermore, a deregulation on the sales and offers policy in retail, has led to a reduction of prices, though this may also be an aftereffect of the crisis, pushing prices lower. Most of these changes had been met with fierce opposition, but in most cases, the implementation has led to the opening up of new markets, such as the supermarkets entering the bakery industry, being allowed to bake bread from frozen dough.
“The interventions in the institutional framework of retail offers and sales resulted in downward pressures on product prices, which were examined according to the highest range of prices during the entire year, not just in the sales periods,” reads the report. “That means consumers have probably benefitted from the changes, while the intermediary sales [in spring and fall] had a similar but weaker impact on prices.”
The centre concludes that further liberalization should be implemented, estimating that the consequences would have been even more positive, if the retail sector did not face the combined effects of austerity and heavy taxation, particularly leading to a significant drop in unemployment.
