世界银行-拉丁美洲和加勒比地区的竞争和生产力增长（英）-2025_195页_5mb

Competition and Productivity Growth

• Empirical evidence shows that increased competition drives productivity growth in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) through creative destruction, entry of productive firms, and innovation by market leaders.

• High barriers to entry and expansion (regulatory, market-based) in LAC hinder productivity. Removing local regulatory barriers, as in Peru, significantly boosted firm productivity.

• Antitrust enforcement enhances market competition, raising productivity and economic welfare. Sanctions in countries like Mexico positively impact sales, wages, and productivity.

• Import competition benefits capable firms but harms less productive ones. The response depends on a firm’s proximity to the technological frontier, with market leaders upgrading quality and innovation.

• Competition policy must be complemented by innovation policies. While frontier innovation is scarce in LAC, strengthening innovation capabilities under competitive pressure is crucial.

• Key policy recommendations include reducing regulatory barriers, enhancing antitrust enforcement, increasing barriers to entry removal, fostering innovation systems, reforming government interventions, improving productivity through quality upgrading and new entry promotion, and ensuring competition neutrality in public procurement.

• Strengthening competition authorities and partnerships with regional and global institutions will facilitate the exchange of empirical experiences, methodologies, and best practices in enforcing competition law and promoting contestability in high-barrier markets.