this new investment cycle will constitute a major test for competitive markets and one of the last opportunities to decarbonise the electricity mix by many economists as well as the iea recommend wellfunctioning electricity markets as the efficient solution provided that prices can rise high enough during periods of scarcity and that there is a stable regulatory framework yet a growing number of countries have recently adopted new rules mandating system operators to contract for generation capacity new zealand ontario california norway and sweden or have introduced explicit margin or capacity targets pjm italy australias eastern states and latin america