The role for competition policy in economic development: the South African experience

Abstract

Competition policy is part of the new international orthodoxy in economic policy and, at the same time, was viewed in South Africa as a crucial element of economic transformation. This article reviews the role of competition policy in economic development and the experiences of developing countries such as Brazil and South Korea. It then assesses the effects of competition policy in South Africa after 1994, with the main focus being on the performance of the new competition institutions established in 1999. The case of the steel industry is used to assess the approach and impact of the institutions in a concentrated sector that has simultaneously undergone processes of liberalisation and domestic consolidation.

Notes

Note, by using market capitalisation we are including the value of non‐South African operations. This overstates the significance in the South African economy of corporations with extensive international operations.

The author has been engaged to work on several competition cases, including a case still under way in the steel sector.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Simon Roberts