Examples of governments that control businesses

February 14, 2008 11:35 AM

For a research project about the Sherman anti-trust act, I'm looking for examples of countries with the most excessive control over businesses and countries with the least.

In other words, I'm looking for the extremes. They can be current or past examples. The excessive control side should still be within a free market framework - so no communist countries.

posted by caroljean63 to law & government (8 comments total)

The concept you want to look into is called "corporatism," just plug that into JSTOR and you're golden. Austria is a prime example.
posted by awesomebrad at 11:39 AM on February 14

As far as the least restrictive economic places, you might want to look up information about "free economic zones" or "special economic zones" in places like Dubai, where control over businesses is slacked in order to entice business. An example is the Jebel Ali Free Zone in Dubai.
posted by zabuni at 11:54 AM on February 14

You'd probably be interested in the Heritage Index of Economic Freedom. Likewise, Cato Institute puts out the Economic Freedom of the World report and the Fraser Institute puts out a similar report.

I know that at least for Cato, they break down the level of government control over business in several areas and go into detail in what ways the government controls business.
posted by champthom at 11:54 AM on February 14

http://devdata.worldbank.org/dataonline/ has some related data
posted by melissam at 12:09 PM on February 14

I seem to remember that Hong Kong before it was given back to the Chinese was among the most laissez faire places in the world when it came to that kind of thing. I wouldn't be surprised if Singapore is pretty free-wheeling about it, too.

As to places with too much control, it really depends on what you're asking about. Western continental Europe shackles its businesses pretty seriously, especially countries like France, but at least they're permitted to operate.

Companies in areas where the economy is failing, led by authoritarian leaders, have a tendency to be really draconian in regard to corporations. Examples: Zimbabwe, and Venezuala. But that's way beyond the pale, things like "If you don't keep selling products at the price we fix, way below your costs, we'll arrest you." That's not really "government control" as much as it is the dying gasp of a dictatorship floundering around looking for others to blame for their own failure.

Corporations make great scapegoats.
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 1:49 PM on February 14

I seem to recall that the Economist or Financial Times puts out an annual survey answering this specific question. I think it's the Economist - head over to their website and give a quick look and I bet you'll find everything you're looking for.
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 1:58 PM on February 14

Fascism is government control over business. Corporatism is something else.

Otherwise, what champthom said.
posted by gjc at 8:15 PM on February 14

I assume you're looking specifically for articles about antitrust policy in different countries?

A quick google search turns up a piece about competition policy in Brazil, a Georgetown Law Journal article on antitrust policy in emerging economies, and much more. Are you trying terms like "strict antitrust policy", "lenient antitrust policy" + countries, antitrust law in [specific country name]...

If you have access to journals/databases, I'd suggest trying Google Scholar. Best of luck!
posted by pearl228 at 9:46 PM on February 14