Competition and Competition Policy in Weak Property Rights Protection

The well developed competition is an important element of an efficient market economy. The competitive environment depends not only on antitrust and regulation policies but also on a set of other parameters of the institutional environment. According to the article, one of factors, which may influence the intensity of competition, is property rights protection. In case of an insufficient level of property rights protection from the side of the government entrepreneurs obtain additional incentives for cooperation instead of competition, i. e. for explicit or implicit pooling and cartelization. The necessity of private investments into property rights protection raises barriers to entry, also restricting competition. The formulation of competition policy on a national, regional or industrial scale requires taking this factor into account.