Competition Policy Law and Development in Transitional Countries

Posted by D. Daniel Sokol

In teaching my class on comparative and international antitrust law and economics this semester, the class has spent a great deal of time on discussions of how antitrust/competition policy fits within a larger market oriented framework. Philip Marsden, Director of the Competition Law Forum and Senior Research Fellow British Institute of International and Comparative Law, recently sent me some of the latest research by the the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) on competition policy among transition countries. This research provides results of the EBRD Legal Indicator Survey, in particular the enforcement of competition law and policy within the Bank’s countries of operations. There are important policy implications for how to use competition policy effectively in transition economies and wider lessons that can be utilized within a developing world antitrust context.

This is an issue near and dear to my heart. I have written an empirical study on antitrust/competition policy technical assistance that I will be presenting next month at the World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank.