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Economic reform in Australia certainly did not start with the Hilmer Report — it has been underway for the last 15 or so years. It began with financial deregulation and floating of the Australian dollar in the 1980s and the reduction of tariff protection, and includes more recent initiatives such as moving from the centralized wage fixing system to more flexible enterprise bargaining arrangements, restructuring of government business enterprises, developments in public administration and most recently the focus on competition policy.

Although justification for competition policies is well founded in the economic literature, there is a need to understand their implications more fully, brought about not just by what is happening in the global arena but even more importantly by various comprehensive policy reforms that have been implemented in recent years. And while there may be a general consensus that "competition is good," there is vagueness in the minds of many and uncertainty about the need for competition policy and how competition should be enforced. This paper aims to contribute to the growing discussion on how to proceed from here. Towards this end, the paper first outlines the framework for competition policy in the Philippine setting. It then attempts to assess the state of competition in the Philippines. What has the Philippines done along the framework of competition policy and what has been the impact on the state of competition in the different sectors of the Philippine economy? A general assessment is made across the different sectors of the economy by looking at what major factors are present that could determine the state of competition in the different sectors. It also looks at policy reforms that have been implemented to improve the state of competition in these sectors. Finally, in conclusion, the paper addresses the issues that confront competition policy and suggests possible approaches towards formulating and implementing a workable competition policy for the Philippines.

We examine the setting of national competition policy in a two-country setting,emphasizing the relationship of trade to the goals of competition policy (suchas the degree and nature of competition). The issues we address involve thegeneral equilibrium distributional effects of competition policy, therelationship of national competition policy to terms-of-trade gains and losses,the implications of distinct national markets linked through trade (thestarting point for all trade theorists) for the analysis of national competitionpolicy, and the characteristics of the Nash equilibrium policy sets.

How will competition policy develop in the 1990s? Michael Beesley, a part‐time member of the Monopolies and Mergers Commission, explains how competition theory has developed and the likely consequences for policy.

Strategies to enhance Australia's international competitiveness need to embrace reform of key infrastructure service industries, reform of the regulatory environment, industrial relations reform and taxation reform. Key aspects of this reform agenda can only be addressed through a shared commitment by all levels of government. Ownership of the public utilities responsible for the nation's key infrastructure networks and services is divided among commonwealth, state and territory (and local) governments. Achieving a substantial lift in the productivity of these industries and ensuring the emergence of truly national infrastructure networks relies on agreement by all governments to public utility reform and the removal of barriers to cross‐border competition. Moreover, the regulation of industries, occupations and businesses is primarily the responsibility of state and territory governments, hence regulatory reform also requires a cooperative approach by all governments.While most jurisdictions have taken some steps to reform public utilities and to deregulate certain product markets, to date reform has been piecemeal. A more systematic approach to removal of impediments to competition across the board is likely to be necessary to lift the overall competitiveness of the Australian economy. The agreement by the commonwealth and all states and territories to implement the National Competition Policy (NCP) not only provides the necessary shared commitment to reform across the board, it also provides the rewards and sanctions needed to sustain that commitment in the face of certain resistance from vested interests.