Competition and competition policy in emerging markets: international and developmental dimensions

This paper examines the role of competition policy in emerging markets from a developmental and international perspective. Its main conclusion include: contrary to conventional wisdom, evidence suggests that the intensity of competition in leading emerging markets is certainly no less than that observed in advanced countries; analysis and evidence indicates that maximum competition is not necessarily optimal, in terms of dynamic efficiency; developing countries need a competition policy today, because of (a)privatization and deregulation, and (b) the huge international merger movement; there is little evidence to indicate that the current international merger wave will enhance global economic efficiency; the current competition policies in the UK and the EU are unsuitable for developing countries - countries at different levels of development and governance capacities require different types of competition policies. The paper presents a proposal for a development-oriented international competition authority to control anti-competitive conduct and growth by mergers of large multi-national companies.