This presentation by Mario Umaña of the Inter-American Development Bank was made during Break-out Session 1: Advocacy in the framework of the discussion on “Overcoming adversity and attaining success: Small and developing competition agencies” held at the 16th meeting of the OECD Global Forum on Competition on 8 December 2017. More papers and presentations on the topic can be found out at oe.cd/sda.

1. Promoting competition
advocacy with limited resources
The challenge of small/young Competition Authorities
Mario A Umaña
Lead Competition Specialist IDB
OECD Global Forum on Competition
Paris, December 8th, 2017

2. Challenges
• Competition policy is (not the elephant) the cinderella in the room
• Can you really promote a competition culture with little resources?
• Paradox: Agencies need to show results to get more budget, and
more budget to show results
• Advocacy is not a priority (generally speaking)

3. Why are resources a challenge for
small/young agencies?
• Birth defects: Most agencies in small developing jurisdictions are
established with limited financial and human resources
• Why? Political economy is not the best
• Competition Policy normally not a major part of political campaigns (if any)
• Not many active constituents pushing in favor (interest groups are more vocal
than consumers)
• Competition Policy not seen as a major economic policy tool by Cabinets
• Despite potential benefits for productivity, fiscal gains and even social policy
• Fiscal constraints in most jurisdictions
• Competition Authorities are not supposed to generate income

4. Some lessons from agencies
• Economics 101. Need to prioritize
• Merger review get most of the agency’s scare resources
• Advocacy

5. Specific actions in Advocacy
• Sector studies in key areas/sectors that affect consumer’s pockets the most:
• Medicines and health
• Transport
• Food
• Pamphlets, cartoons/short films/
• Use of social media
• Share responsibility with larger antitrust community
• Frequent inexpensive fora and workshops (Case of Foro de Competencia in Argentina)
• Identify gains from competition in easy/lay terms. Improve metrics
• Use collective knowledge from ICN, Global Forum, LACCF, etc
• Use multilateral institutions
• Support training for Judges

6. Country size and Budget are correlated
• Countries like Costa Rica, Uruguay, Nicaragua have budgets < than
$1,000,000
• El Salvador $2,500,000
The real question is what is the minimum budget and what are the
priorities?

7. Highest return to investment
• Cartel enforcement
• Advocacy could bring some low hanging fruits
• Sector studies
• Awareness campaigns, fora, workshops
• Consultations