Competition Policy, Developing Countries, and the World Trade Organization

27 Pages Posted: 20 Apr 2016

See all articles by Bernard Hoekman

Bernard Hoekman

European University Institute - Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies (RSCAS); Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR); Economic Research Forum (ERF)

Peter S. Holmes

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Date Written: October 1999

Abstract

Developing countries have a great interest in pursuing active domestic competition policy but should do so independent of the World Trade Organization - which they should use to improve market access through further reduction in direct barriers to trade in goods and services.

Hoekman and Holmes discuss developing country interests in including competition law disciplines in the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Developing countries have a great interest in pursuing active domestic competition policy, they conclude, but should do so independent of the WTO.

Given the mercantilist basis of multilateral trade negotiations, the WTO is less likely to be a powerful instrument for encouraging adoption of welfare-enhancing competition rules than it is to be a forum for abolishing cross-border measures.

Developing countries should therefore give priority to using the WTO to improve market access - to further reduce direct barriers to trade in goods and services.

This paper - a product of Trade, Development Research Group - is part of a larger effort in the group to analyze issues that may be the subject of WTO negotiations. The authors may be contacted at bhoekman@worldbank.org or p.holmes@sussex.ac.uk.

Suggested Citation

Hoekman, Bernard and Holmes, Peter S., Competition Policy, Developing Countries, and the World Trade Organization (October 1999). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=623968

Bernard Hoekman (Contact Author)

European University Institute - Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies (RSCAS) ( email )

via Boccaccio 121
Florence, Florence 50133
Italy

Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

London
United Kingdom

Economic Research Forum (ERF) ( email )

21 Al-Sad Al-Aaly St.
(P.O. Box: 12311)
Dokki, Cairo
Egypt

Peter S. Holmes

affiliation not provided to SSRN

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