scholarly journals Competition law and the economic characteristics of developing countries

Author(s):  
Simon J. Evenett

This book presents a new stage in the contributions of the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) to the development of Competition Law and policy. These countries have significant influence in their respective regions and in the world. The changing global environment means greater political and economic role for the BRICS and other emerging countries. BRICS countries are expected to contribute nearly half of all global gross domestic product growth by 2020. For more than a century, the path of Competition Law has been defined by the developed and industrialized countries of the world. Much later, developing countries and emerging economies came on the scene. They experience many of the old competition problems, but they also experience new problems, and experience even the old problems differently. Where are the fora to talk about Competition Law and policy fit for developing and emerging economies? The contributors in this book are well-known academic and practising economists and lawyers from both developed and developing countries. The chapters begin with a brief introduction of the topic, followed by a critical discussion and a conclusion. Accordingly, each chapter is organized around a central argument made by its author(s) in relation to the issue or case study discussed. These arguments are thoughtful, precise, and very different from each another. Each chapter is written to be a valuable freestanding contribution to our collective wisdom. The set of case studies as a whole helps to build a collection of different perspectives on competition policy.


2010 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shiju Varghese Mazhuvanchery

The relationship between competition law and development continues to be a subject that excites many. The appropriate design of a competition law with developmental dimensions is a contentious issue. With the enactment of the Competition Act 2002, India joined the hundred odd developing countries that have adopted new competition laws over the last two decades. After a hiatus of seven years, substantive provisions of the Act have been notified recently. The Indian Act presents a perfect case study for the developmental dimensions of competition law. This paper explores the events that led to the enactment of the new law in India and analyses its provisions from a developmental perspective. The paper concludes that many of the provisions in the law may come in the way of the realization of developmental goals.


Author(s):  
Cheng Thomas K

This chapter explores the myriad difficulties and obstacles for competition law enforcement in developing countries and suggests possible solutions to some of these difficulties. Competition culture is generally lacking in developing countries. In addition, developing country authorities often face a particularly challenging enforcement environment due to past policy failures by the government, especially in the context of privatization. Another major external impediment to effective competition law enforcement is the lack of political will on the part of the government to enforce the law. The chapter also looks at the lack of authority independence, financial resources, enforcement powers, availability of data, and judicial expertise. Institutional design can have a bearing on setting of enforcement priorities. Poor institutional design may take flexibility away from the authority and make it impossible for the authority to set enforcement priorities. Apart from enforcement, however, another very important part of an authority’s work is advocacy. It is through advocacy with the general public that the authority can hope to build a competition culture. Meanwhile, it is through advocacy with the government that the authority can ensure government policies do not create intractable competition problems that are beyond the capability of the authority to solve. The chapter then considers the benefits and limitations of a regional approach to competition law enforcement. Enforcement and procedure


Author(s):  
Cheng Thomas K

This chapter focuses on the interface between intellectual property and competition laws. The interface is the most complex between competition law on the one hand and patent law on the other hand. Developing countries only engage in what can be called laggard innovation, which includes acquisition of tacit knowledge, imitation, and process innovation. This may call for a reconsideration of the appropriate approach to the patent–competition interface in developing countries because laggard innovations, with the exception of process innovation, are not the subject of protection of the patent system. If laggard innovations are not the subject matter of protection of the patent system, the patent-competition rules should have little relevance for the quest for innovations in developing countries. In fact, one can argue that the patent system is an impediment to one of the main sources of laggard innovation, imitation, and that the patent-competition rules should be adjusted in a way to facilitate it if one were serious about adopting a pro-growth approach to competition law enforcement in developing countries. This implies that for developing countries that do not produce patentable innovations, there is no need to balance between patent and competition policies. There is in fact no conflict between these two policy objectives. Intellectual property rights and Market-sharing and customer allocation Enforcement and procedure


Author(s):  
Cheng Thomas K

This chapter offers a coherent approach to competition law enforcement in developing countries. The promotion of economic growth and development should be the paramount objective of competition law enforcement in developing countries. However, ascribing the objective of the promotion of economic growth and development to competition law enforcement in developing countries does not require a detraction from a focus on promoting competition. In addition, competition law enforcement in developing countries must abide by the principle of causing no harm to the poor in society. If a developing country decides to pursue industrial policy, its competition authority may be asked to balance between competition and industrial policy objectives. Ultimately, competition law enforcement in developing countries must take into account the economic characteristics of developing countries as well as the enforcement capacity of developing country authorities.


Author(s):  
Cheng Thomas K

This chapter highlights the economic characteristics of developing countries. The economy of a developing country may possess characteristics that distinguish it from an industrialized economy, and markets often function differently in developing countries. These characteristics include small, fragmented, and less competitive domestic markets; widespread poverty, which further exacerbates the small size of the domestic market; significant variations in firm productivity; barriers to entrepreneurship; missing institutions and prevalence of market failure; poorly developed financial markets; heavy state presence; prevalence of the informal sector; domination of large business groups; and widespread corruption and state capture. Approaches to competition law enforcement formulated in industrialized economies are based on the economic environment of these countries and do not reflect the circumstances of a developing country economy. The chapter then discusses each economic characteristic one by one, proposing necessary adjustments to competition law doctrines and enforcement approaches.


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