IFN Stockholm Conference 2014: The Performance of Electricity Markets
On June 11–12, 2014, IFN organized an international two-day conference on the performance of electricity markets. The conference brought together top researchers in the field with an overarching objective to present and discuss the latest research in the area, both theoretical and empirical.
Electricity markets typically are susceptible to the exercise of market power: a small number of power companies control the bulk of generation capacity, transmission bottlenecks limit import possibilities, and economic and political barriers present obstacles to large-scale entry.
Renewable support schemes, taxes on production and consumption, and command and control policies simultaneously represent important drivers of production, consumption, and investment. The complicated menu of energy policies may serve to distort market outcomes and cause efficiency losses. The performance of electricity markets (should) therefore poses a major concern to competition authorities and policymakers worldwide.