TY  - JOUR
AU  - Nagaoka, Sadao
TI  - International Trade Aspects of Competition Policy
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 6720
PY  - 1998
Y2  - September 1998
DO  - 10.3386/w6720
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w6720
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w6720.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Sadao Nagaoka
Hitotsubashi University
Institute of Innovation Research
Naka 2-1, Kunitachi
Tokyo, Japan 186-8603
Fax: 81-42-580-8410
E-Mail: nagaoka@iir.hit-u.ac.jp
M1  - published as Sadao Nagaoka. "International Trade Aspects of Competition Policy," in Takatoshi Ito and Anne O. Krueger, editors, "Deregulation and Interdependence in the Asia-Pacific Region" University of Chicago Press (2000)

AB  - Recently competition policy has become an important trade policy issue, since many policy makers now see competition policy as an important instrument to secure  market access' to foreign markets. This paper analyzes this issue both from a theoretical point of view and from the review of the recent development of the Japanese competition policy.  While voluntary trade cartels have a strongly negative international spillover, export cartels or international cartels do not constrain  market access,' and export restraints were often used to ameliorate trade frictions. Moreover, domestic cartels often have a positive international spillover on the export from foreign countries.  Thus, the recent focus on competition policy from  market access' concern is misleading.  The Japanese government has substantially strengthened its competition policy in the 1990s, especially in terms of drastic reduction of cartels exempted from the application of Antimonopoly Law and in strengthening its enforcement against cartels.  While these changes of competition policy would be highly beneficial to the Japanese economy, it is not clear whether such policy changes could have a substantial impact on  market access.'
ER  -