Competition Law Gone Global: Introducing the Comparative Competition Law and Enforcement Datasets

Abstract

Competition law has proliferated around the world. Due to data limitations, however, there is little systematic information about the substance and enforcement of these laws. In this article, we address that problem by introducing two new datasets on competition law regimes around the world. First, we introduce the Comparative Competition Law Dataset, which codes competition laws in 131 jurisdictions between 1889 to 2010. Second, we introduce the Comparative Competition Enforcement Dataset, which provides data on competition agencies’ resources and activities in 100 jurisdictions between 1990 and 2010. These datasets offer the most comprehensive picture of competition law yet assembled and provide a new foundation for empirical research on the legal regimes used to regulate markets.

Do Legal Origins Predict Legal Substance?

“…By that time, these countries had many models to emulate. The EU in particular offered an attractive template to emulate given the specific and detailed nature of EU antitrust laws, as well as their availability in many languages (Bradford et al 2019b).…”

“…First, property is one of the first areas of law that countries adopt, often shortly after their modern legal systems have been established. In contrast, although a handful of countries adopted antitrust regimes prior to World War II, most antitrust laws were adopted after 1990 (Bradford et al 2019b). This variance allows us to test one area of law with old roots and another area of law with new roots.…”

Toward a fairer society: inequality and competition policy in developing Asia

“…Across the world, competition authorities have different practices in exercising their mandate, given their respective legal systems, institutional legacies, and historical circumstances (Bradford et al [2019]; OECD [2018]). In the US, for instance, the object of antitrust enforcement since the late 1970s has been confined to economic efficiency, particularly the preservation of competitive processes to protect consumer welfare.…”

“…Stiglitz [2019] examines the threats of rising inequality on democracy and the economy in the context of the United States. For Asian context, see ADB[2018].6 From a global perspective,Bradford et al [2019] provide a comparative description of competition laws in over 130 jurisdictions for the period 1889-2010.…”

“…Indeed, public interest considerations-or the goals of competition policy beyond the protection of competitive process to advance total welfare or consumer welfare-vary wildly across jurisdictions[OECD 2016;Bradford et al 2019].…”