We frequently encounter a cliché that everyone knows: “Ignorance of the law is no excuse!” But what about not knowing court decisions? Can a person be sued and penalized by the same administration for “complying with” the provisions of a regulation which the administration has published? I can almost hear many of you saying, “Of course not; that’s absurd...
If we restrict the supply, can we reduce the prices? From the perspective of economics, it should be the opposite. So, does limiting the number of bakeries and requiring permits for bread sales reduce bread prices? After the New Year, bread prices increased in some cities, sparking debates about whether this is a “price hike” or simply an “adjustment.” A few days ago, the...
I came across a news article in a newspaper a while ago, and the title of the article caught my attention: Yes, you read it correctly! In 2008, a requirement was introduced that anyone wanting to become a general secretary of chambers and stock exchanges must have a criminal conviction for the abovementioned crimes. The first sentence above was the headline of a news article published in...
In the third article of the series on Regulatory Traps, we examine the developments after a parliamentary commission’s work at the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM). Although the first few paragraphs may seem technical, the continuation of the article explores how an intervention by the relevant commission, driven by aesthetic concerns, resulted in unintended consequences. In 1994...
In the first part of the “Pitfalls of Regulations” series, we delved into the intricacies of regulation, explored the perils of neglecting the nexus between purpose and means, and outlined what corrective actions should be taken [1]. Now, we embark on a journey concerning the introduction of “Regulatory Impact Analysis” (RIA) into Turkish legislation in 2006 and its...
Regulations are a concept that actually exists in our lives as long as the state exists, partly due to the development of market economies and partly due to the winds of European Union membership, resulting in more frequent encounters and discussions. Regulation, in its simplest definition, signifies “rules based on state authority.” Therefore, regulations stand apart from other...
The success story of the liberalization of domestic air passenger transportation in our country in 2002 is essential for concretely illustrating the benefits of competition and the relationships between policy design, bureaucracy, regulations, and markets. Some key lessons from this success story are outlined below: The data relating to the market at the beginning of the liberalization process...
The Theory… I had the privilege of addressing the delegates from several countries at the OECD’s Global Forum on Competition in 2006 (see the presentation). As one of the lead discussants, I summarized the relationship between competition and concessions in just 15 minutes. Therefore, I decided to sum up the whole issue in one chart, and later on, in my seminars, I had the chance to...
In the past weeks, one of the agenda items of the 12th session of the UNCTAD Intergovernmental Group of Experts on Competition Law and Policy in Geneva was the Review of Competition Law and Policies in Mongolia. Within the framework of the Review Report [1] prepared after the financial aid provided by TIKA (Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency), the competition law and policy practices in...
Seeing that a chapter of a period that once filled a limited number of individuals curious about computers, different operating systems, and technological developments with great joy and hope is coming to a close, I realized that the time had come to publish an article I had penned in the past; but continuously postponed its publication due to an excessive sense of meticulousness or perfectionism...
One of the fundamental tenets of a market economy is that when the “invisible hand” operates without any hindrance or guidance, the efficiency of activities and societal welfare will be maximized. Therefore, the necessity to preserve competition is one of the most important principles of a market economy. When we look at any introductory economics textbook, we are likely to see...
The markets are constantly changing and evolving due to factors like new products, new technologies, and emerging production and distribution methods. This dynamism requires competition law, which aims to maintain competition in the markets, to be just as dynamic and continuously evolving. In line with the above, economic methods are used for evaluating markets, defining product markets or...
In the previous post titled “Privatization and Competition – Part I: Why?” I have stated that the goal of privatization is not merely “disposing of public enterprises to the private sector” because it is difficult to operate state-owned companies (SOEs) like private enterprises and often not feasible. Instead, the aim is to transfer these entities to the private sector...
In seminars related to competition law, when the privatization topic comes up, it’s common to see that the majority of participants approach the issue with preconceived notions and often ask the following classic question: Why are we “selling” these State Owned Enterprises (SOEs), which are among “the most profitable organizations” in the country? The statements in...
Watching buildings turn into decks of cards after an earthquake leaves one facing pain and many questions. Especially if the hospitals, where we entrust our lives, and schools or dormitories, where we entrust our beloved children, were the first to collapse in every earthquake… It is tough to accept that we prepare graves for ourselves and our loved ones with the taxes we pay! In such days...
1. The US Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division Filed Lawsuit Against Apple, Adobe, Google, Intel, Intuit, and Pixar As a result of its investigation launched in June 2009, the Antitrust Division of the US Department of Justice filed a complaint to the Washington D.C. court on September 24, 2010. The complaint alleges that starting from May 2005, executives from Apple, Adobe, Google...
A “small world” is described as a network in which closely intra-connected groups are connected with each other through inter-group shortcuts. In Collective Dynamics of Small-World Networks Watts and Strogatz introduce a small-world model with short average path length and high clustering coefficient. The W&S Model is built by rewiring a regular lattice to create long-range edges or shortcuts...
The Crime & Punishment Model shares some characteristics of Schelling’s Segregation Model and J.M. Dalle’s Model in terms of local interactions and heterogeneity but also has different characteristics, such as learning/ individual memory, two-way interaction, individuality, and transition of agents. The aim of the model is to show the different outcomes of the different policies in a given...
Brian Arthur generalized his model to study economic processes like standardization, network effects, and so-called ‘increasing returns.’ The model assumes that the choices made by previous adopters from among competing technologies will matter for individual consumers. This model can explain why QWERTY became the standard keyboard in some geographies, although it may not be the most efficient or...
Scale-free networks show specific properties that are very distinct from real networks. We often see a significant number of nodes in a network with many links and many nodes with minimal links connected to them. A very good example is Google, which is connected to literally all sites worldwide, and most of these sites have a significantly smaller number of nodes. Another example could be airline...
Let’s wear the shoes of an investor and prepare for the tender of the privatization of the telecommunications monopoly in a given country. Which of the options below will be more attractive for you, thus you will be willing to invest more money? And why? a) The company will be sold, including the monopoly rights, and no one will interfere with your pricing later on. b) The company will be...
A well-designed industrial policy is actually one of the most important tools for a country’s development. However, since every country’s production resources, capabilities, and priorities differ from raw materials to human resources, it is not possible to talk about a one-size-fits-all industrial policy. On the other hand, it is now understood that industrial policies are not solely...
Jean-Michelle Dalle Model [1] shows the interactions among a finite number of agents on a toric network. Therefore, each agent interacts with its neighbors on the north, east, south, and west; and since it is a toric network, the agent on the top north interacts with the agent on the south-west corner of the agent as its north neighbor, top-east agent as its west neighbor and so on… In other...
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