Competition Policy in Regulated Industries: Approaches for Emerging Economies

During the last decade, Latin American countries have brought about important reforms in infrastructure services based both on private sector participation for enhancing internal efficiency and competition for increasing consumer welfare. Infrastructure services have evolved from monopoly and public ownership setting lacking specific regulations, toward scenarios where private participation prevails, with competition and regulation playing complementary roles. However, even though competition is a pivotal feature in all public service reform processes, a high degree of vertical and horizontal concentration pervades the industrial structure of many countries in the region. Furthermore, mergers and acquisitions taking place in the context of an increasingly global economy, without the appropriate legislation geared at promoting competition and restraining market control, have often led to reduced levels of competition. Competition Policy in Regulated Industries identifies competition problems in infrastructure sectors, discusses legal and structural solutions to them, and provides conceptual and practical approaches for emerging economies.