The difficult road to a better competition policy: How do competition authorities reforms affect antitrust effectiveness?

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Borrell, Joan-Ramon; Garcia, Carmen; Luis Jimenez, Juan
• 署名单位: University of Barcelona; University of Navarra; IESE Business School; Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
• 刊物名称: REGULATION & GOVERNANCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1748-5983
• DOI: 10.1111/rego.12507
• 发表日期: 2024
• 页码: 203-225
• 关键词: EMPIRICAL-ANALYSIS; IMPACT; WORLD; LAW

摘要

This paper estimates the impact of reforming competition authorities on perceived antitrust effectiveness using methods of causal inference. We study how 20 countries reformed their competition authorities in depth between 1995 and 2020, and what has been the outcome of such reforms in the perceived competition policy effectiveness by the business community compared with 18 control countries in a balanced panel. As the political economy literature warned, we find that reforms paradoxically have not always improved antitrust effectiveness. Some of the reforms approved stalled or backlashed as politicians opted for a Machiavelli option: undertaking counter-reforms even in the name of an apparent but deceptive progressiveness and pro-competition drive.