text:
Presentation of the Competition Assessment Toolkit
Angel Gurría, OECD Secretary-General
14 June 2007, Mexico City
Legislators, ladies and gentlemen:
I welcome this opportunity to speak to you about competition: the ultimate rule of the game in market economies, the main sustenance of business competitiveness and the key to Mexico's progress.
Mexico has made substantial progress in developing competition in its economy over the past 15 years. Yet it would be difficult to say that the mission has been accomplished. There are strategic sectors which are still insulated from a competitive environment and in which undue restrictions, both institutional and regulatory, prevail.
The benefits of competition
Greater competition can boost a country's growth and productivity. Conversely, restricting competition harms economic performance and delays development.
Despite a government's resolve to reduce restrictions on competition, it is not always possible to recognise those restrictions because most of them are unintentional. However, intentional or not, restrictions on competition can have significant impacts on economic growth.
There is ample empirical evidence to demonstrate that removing such restrictions can bring substantial benefits. For instance, twenty years ago the United States moved away from regulating air routes to a more pro-competition policy. As a result of this change, air fares were 10 to 18 per cent lower, on average, than under the previous regulatory policy, while the estimated annual savings to air passengers ranged from USD 5 000 to 10 000 million.
OECD economic analysis shows clearly that reducing regulation in product markets promotes productivity growth, investment, employment and innovation. Sweden, for instance, owes much of its recent economic success to the regulatory reforms it introduced in the 1990s: since 1998, having overcome a major crisis at the beginning of the 1990s, Swedish GDP growth has outpaced that of the Euro Area, as well as the Nordic average, practically every single year while its output volume per hour worked registered an average growth close on 6 per cent during the period 1999 - 2003.
Recently, the prestigious Global Competition Review ranked the European Competition Directorate, the UK Competition Commission and the US Federal Trade Commission as the world's top competition agencies. It is no coincidence that these countries are also the world leaders in research and development (R&D).
Towards new pro-competition policies
There are various public policy options that can achieve a given government objective. In deciding on the appropriate policy, it is important to assess its impact on different areas, including competition, since the latter may be affected by regulations.
Governments can and should produce pro-competition legislation and regulations – essentially by identifying rules that restrict competition and then finding alternatives that achieve the same policy objective but without hindering competition.
Australia's experience is compelling. In 1995, the Australian Government launched a broad programme of comprehensive pro-competition reforms at national and state levels. Starting from a prudent fiscal and monetary policy base, the Government identified 1 800 laws with a potential impact on competition in various sectors which would later be reviewed and either amended or eliminated.
In just a few years, Australia substantially improved its economic performance, becoming one of the OECD's top-performing economies with an average growth rate of over 3 per cent since the beginning of the new millennium and the lowest unemployment rates since the 1970s. The OECD gave its unequivocal support to Australia's efforts to improve competition and continues to do so.
The OECD Competition Assessment Toolkit
In the OECD, at least 23 countries claim that they consider competition or market forces in their process of developing legislation. However, most do not have a workable framework with which they can systematically gauge the impact on competition. The OECD has produced just such a framework for evaluating the impact of laws and regulations on competition.
This framework is provided by what we call the Competition Assessment Toolkit, an instrument which lays out general principles for promoting competition in regulated sectors. The principles are simple and flexible enough to be incorporated into governmental activities across many different sectors and countries.
The Toolkit provides a specific methodology for assessing competition, including regulations and laws in order to: 1) identify any law or regulation that may unduly inhibit competition; and 2) revise them so that they still achieve government objectives, but without inhibiting competition.
Assessment is a two-step process. Step one is to apply a simple "competition checklist" to the policies being examined. This simple screening process can be done quite quickly. If this first review suggests that a given policy may have the potential to restrict competition unduly, then step two -- an in-depth assessment of the impact on competition -- is implemented. This assessment should produce suggestions for developing alternative policies, which will achieve the same government objectives without harming competition.
A growing number of countries ─ such as Australia, Canada, Hungary, Portugal, the United Kingdom, the Republic of Korea and Turkey ─ are turning to our assessment process and incorporating the step one checklist in their public policy-making process.
The situation in Mexico
Strengthening competition is one of the major challenges for Mexico. Despite progress on a number of fronts, such as the adoption of the Federal Law on Economic Competition (LFCE) in 1993 and the creation of the Federal Competition Commission (Comisión Federal de Competencia or CFC) -- which I congratulate on its recent successes in combating monopolies and duopolies – competition is an area that still poses major challenges.
Mexico is one OECD Member country where the level of general support for competition policy is still an open question. Our studies show that there are areas which, in theory, are open to competition, but inadequate implementation of the law means that, in practice, there is no real competition.
Deficiencies in statutory authority and judicial review procedures constrain the CFC's ability to address competitive conditions effectively and efficiently.
Mexico should reduce barriers to entry and strengthen competition in crucial sectors such as electricity, oil and gas extraction, telecommunications and communications. The lack of competition in each of these strategic sectors is an enormous "drag" on the economic and social development of Mexico.
Strengthening competition is crucial to increase the productivity, innovation and competitiveness of the Mexican economy. It bears remembering that Mexico is one of the three countries with the lowest level of productivity in the OECD, while its spending on research and development as a percentage of GDP is 0.43 per cent, compared with an OECD average of 2.26%.
Applying the OECD Competition Assessment Toolkit could not only make evident the harmful implications of the lack of competition in the major strategic sectors, it should also help to identify a series of core issues for and unnecessary restrictions on competition throughout the full body of existing Mexican economic policies and regulations.
This methodology can be extremely useful in improving public policy-making in both the executive and the legislative branches. We applaud the determination of President Calderón's government to confront this challenge by subscribing to and implementing this valuable instrument for the first time.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Governments around the world are turning to competition to improve their economic performance. In terms of productivity and competitiveness, countries that have followed this route with the most conviction and commitment are outperforming those that still cling to old ways of doing business, especially countries where privilege reigns and national champions are protected.
The Competition Assessment Toolkit can be an enormously useful tool in building a more productive, more competitive and more prosperous Mexico. The OECD is ready to work with Mexico on optimising the implementation of this instrument. I feel sure that our joint efforts to strengthen Mexico's economic competition will soon bring bigger and better investment and jobs, the crucial ingredients for fair progress in this wonderful country.
Thank you.
Documents connexes


text:
OIL - You Better be Sitting Down When You Read This!
Forwarded E-mail, Currently in Circulation
As you may know, Cruz Construction started a division in North Dakota just 6 months ago. They send every Kenworth (9 trucks) we had here in Alaska to North Dakota and several drivers. They just bought two new Kenworth's to add to that fleet; one being a Tri Drive tractor and a new 65 ton lowboy to go with it.
They also bought two new cranes (one crawler & one rubber tired) for that division. Dave Cruz said they have moved more rigs in the last 6 months in ND than Cruz Construction moved in Alaska in the last 6 years. "Williston is like a gold rush town; they moved one of our 40 man camps down there since there are no rooms available. Unemployment in ND is the lowest in the nation at 3.4 percent last I checked."
See anything in the national news about how the oil industry is fueling North Dakota 's economy?
Here's an astonishing read. Important and verifiable information:
About 6 months ago, the writer was watching a news program on oil and one of the Forbes Bros. was the guest. The host said to Forbes, "I am going to ask you a direct question and I would like a direct answer; how much oil does the U.S. have in the ground?" Forbes did not miss a beat, he said, "more than all the Middle East put together." The U. S.. Geological Service issued a report in April 2008 that only scientists and oil men knew was coming, but man was it big. It was a revised report (hadn't been updated since 1995) on how much oil was in this area of the western 2/3 of North Dakota, western South Dakota, and extreme eastern Montana.
Check THIS out:
The Bakken is the largest domestic oil discovery since Alaska 's Prudhoe Bay, and has the potential to eliminate all American dependence on foreign oil. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates it at 503 billion barrels. Even if just 10% of the oil is recoverable (5 billion barrels), at $107 a barrel, we're looking at a resource base worth more than $5.3 trillion. "When I first briefed legislators on this, you could practically see their jaws hit the floor. They had no idea.." says Terry Johnson, the Montana Legislature's financial analyst.
"This sizable find is now the highest-producing onshore oil field found in the past 56 years," reports The Pittsburgh Post Gazette. It's a formation known as the Williston Basin, but is more commonly referred to as the 'Bakken.' It stretches from Northern Montana, through North Dakota and into Canada. For years, U. S. oil exploration has been considered a dead end. Even the 'Big Oil' companies gave up searching for major oil wells decades ago. However, a recent technological breakthrough has opened up the Bakken's massive reserves, and we now have access of up to 500 billion barrels. And because this is light, sweet oil, those billions of barrels will cost Americans just $16 PER BARREL!!!!!!
That's enough crude to fully fuel the American economy for 2041 years straight. And if THAT didn't throw you on the floor, then this next one should - because it's from 2006!!!!!!
U.. S. Oil Discovery - Largest Reserve in the World
Stansberry Report Online - 4/20/2006
Hidden 1,000 feet beneath the surface of the Rocky Mountains lies the largest untapped oil reserve in the world. It is more than 2 TRILLION barrels. On August 8, 2005 President Bush mandated its extraction. In three and a half years of high oil prices none has been extracted. With this motherload of oil why are we still fighting over off-shore drilling?
They reported this stunning news:
We have more oil inside our borders, than all the other proven reserves on earth.
Here are the official estimates:
- 8 times as much oil as Saudi Arabia
- 18 times as much oil as Iraq
- 21 times as much oil as Kuwait
- 22 times as much oil as Iran
- 500 times as much oil as Yemen
... and it's all right here in the Western United States!!!!!!
HOW can this BE? HOW can we NOT BE extracting this? Because the environmentalists and others have blocked all efforts to help America become independent of foreign oil! Again, we are letting a small group of people dictate our lives and our economy. WHY?
James Bartis, lead researcher with the study says we've got more oil in this very compact area than the entire Middle East, more than 2 TRILLION barrels untapped. That's more than all the proven oil reserves of crude oil in the world today, reports The Denver Post. Don't think 'OPEC' will drop its price even with this find? Think again! It's all about the competitive marketplace, it has to. Think OPEC just might be funding the environmentalists?
Got your attention yet? Now, while you're thinking about it, do this:
Pass this along. If you don't take a little time to do this, then you should stifle yourself the next time you complain about gas prices, by doing NOTHING, you forfeit your right to complain.
Now I just wonder what would happen in this country if every one of you sent this to every one in your address book.
By the way, this can be verified. Check it out at the link below!!!!!!
Cruz Construction:

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Egypt Leader Adli Mansour Takes Power Amid Anti-Morsi Crackdown
Egypt's prosecutor ordered the arrest of the Muslim Brotherhood's leader on Thursday, widening a crackdown against the Islamist movement after the army ousted the country's first democratically elected president.
But Egypt's new interim leader, Adli Mansour, used his inauguration to hold out an olive branch to the Brotherhood.
"The Muslim Brotherhood are part of this people and are invited to participate in building the nation as nobody will be excluded, and if they respond to the invitation, they will be welcomed," he said.
Calm returned to Cairo on Thursday after huge crowds had filled Tahrir Square, danced in the streets and held Egyptian flags aloft overnight to celebrate President Mohamed Mursi's downfall after days of mass protests.
Mursi's dramatic removal after a year in office marked another twist in the turmoil that has gripped the Arab world's most populous country in the two years since the fall of Hosni Mubarak.
The United Nations, the United States and other world powers did not condemn Mursi's removal as a military coup. To do so might trigger sanctions.
Army intervention was backed by millions of Egyptians, including liberal leaders and religious figures who expect new elections under a revised set of rules.
The fall of the first elected leader to emerge from the Arab Spring revolutions raised questions about the future of political Islam, which only lately seemed triumphant. Deeply divided, Egypt's 84 million people find themselves again a focus of concern in a region traumatised by the civil war in Syria.
Straddling the Suez Canal and Israel's biggest neighbour, Egypt's stability is important for many powers.
At least 14 people were killed and hundreds wounded in street clashes across Egypt on Wednesday, and television stations sympathetic to Mursi were taken off air. Mursi himself is in military custody, army and Brotherhood sources say.
The prosecutor's office also ordered the arrest of the Brotherhood's top leader, Mohamed Badie, and his deputy Khairat el-Shater, according to judicial and army sources.
The two men have been charged with inciting violence against protesters outside the Brotherhood's headquarters in Cairo that was attacked on Saturday night.
A senior Brotherhood politician, Essam El-Erian, said the movement would take a long view of the political setback.
Writing on Facebook, he said "waves of sympathy" for the Brotherhood would rise gradually over time and that the country's Islamist leaders were overthrown before they had a chance to succeed.
"The end of the coup will end faster than you imagine," he added.
Outside the constitutional court where Mansour was sworn in, 25-year-old engineer Maysar El-Tawtansy summed up the mood among those who had voted for Mursi in the 2012 poll and opposed military intervention.
"We queued for hours at the election, and now our votes are void," he said. "It's not about the Brotherhood, it's about Egypt. We've gone back 30, 60 years. Now the military rules again. But freedom will prevail."
Army intervention was backed by millions of Egyptians, including liberal leaders and religious figures who expect new elections under a revised set of rules.
Underlining the military's central role in the overthrow of Mursi, the air force staged several fly pasts in the smoggy skies above central Cairo on Thursday to "celebrate the triumph of popular will".
But for the defeated Islamists, the clampdown revived memories of their sufferings under the old, military-backed regime led by Hosni Mubarak, himself toppled by a popular uprising in 2011.
The clock started ticking for Mursi when millions took to the streets on Sunday to demand he resign. They accused his Brotherhood of hijacking the revolution, entrenching its power and failing to revive the economy.
That gave armed forces chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who already had his own reservations about the state of the nation under Mursi, a justification to invoke the "will of the people" and demand the president share power or step aside.
The United States and other Western allies had also pressed Mursi hard to open his administration to a broader mix of ideas.
Sisi, in uniform and flanked by politicians, officers and clergy, called on Wednesday for measures to wipe clear a slate of messy democratic reforms enacted since Mubarak fell. The constitution was suspended.
A technocratic interim government will be formed, along with a panel for national reconciliation, and the constitution will be reviewed. Mansour said fresh parliamentary and presidential elections would be held, but he did not specify when.
Liberal chief negotiator Mohamed ElBaradei, a former U.N. nuclear agency chief, said the plan would "continue the revolution" of 2011.
Many hope they can have more electoral success than last year, when the Brotherhood's organisation dominated the vote. But its own ability to fight back democratically may be limited by the arrests of its leaders.
U.S. President Barack Obama, whose administration provides $1.3 billion a year to the Egyptian military, expressed concern about Mursi's removal and called for a swift return to a democratically elected civilian government. But he, too, stopped short of condemning a military move that could block U.S. aid.
"During this uncertain period, we expect the military to ensure that the rights of all Egyptian men and women are protected, including the right to peaceful assembly, due process, and free and fair trials in civilian courts," he said.
Obama urged the new authorities to avoid arbitrary arrests and said U.S. agencies would review whether the military action would trigger sanctions on aid. A senator involved in aid decisions said the United State would cut off its financial support if the intervention was deemed a military coup.
Much may depend on a strict definition of "coup."
Concerns over human rights have clouded U.S. relations with Cairo, but did not stop aid flowing to Mubarak, or to Mursi.
The European Union, the biggest civilian aid donor to its near neighbour, also called for a rapid return to the democratic process. Foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said that should mean "free and fair presidential and parliamentary elections and the approval of a constitution".