Competition Law & Policy in Developing Countries: Explaining Variations in Outcomes; Exploring Possibilities and Limits

Some young competition jurisdictions in the developing world, however, appear to have overcome these challenges.Though their records so far are short, some agencies seem to have succeeded in building substantial analytical capacity and establishing considerable autonomy.And in a number of cases, they appear to have become highly effective in dismantling private and public barriers to competition in their countries, contributing to development and other goals of these societies.5 A suitably implemented competition law and policy holds much promise.Competition is necessary for the tremendous potential benefits of a market economy to be achieved-including economic growth and innovation that leads to greater variety, increased quality, and/or lower price-and makes it more likely that those benefits are widely shared.At the same time, empowering a government agency to engage in highly consequential market intervention may leave everyone worse off if those powers are abused or exercised incompetently.So there is much at stake in understanding what makes competition law and policy effective.The articles in this symposium seek to explain the variation in trajectories after the initial adoption of a competition law, focusing on two questions:First, why has the adoption of a competition law and the establishment of a competition agency succeeded in bringing into existence a regulatory agency with substantial analytical capacity and considerable capability to dismantle private and public barriers to competition in some countries, while in others it has largely failed to do so?Second, what are the conditions under which competition law and policy are effective in contributing to broader goals, such as development, equality, or economic and political liberalization?Prior to exploring these questions, we first address in part II the meaning of "success" and "effectiveness" for competition law and policy.This analysis structures the subsequent review of the literature because both impediments and conducive conditions are differentially harmful or helpful, depending on what we take to be the goals of competition law and policy.Part III then examines available explanations for variation in outcomes, summarizing what current scholarship considers the most important impediments to the effective implementation of competition law and policy in developing countries, but also scrutinizing the severity of these impediments.Part IV considers factors that THE SHORTCOMINGS OF ANTITRUST IN DEVELOPING AND REFORMING ECONOMIES (2010) (providing an incisive study of the challenges presented by recent competition law policy developments); ECONOMIC