Markets for Development: Improving Lives through Competition: Executive Summary

Latin America and the Caribbean has made major social and macroeconomic strides, yet growth and productivity remain weak. Markets for Development: Improving Lives through Competition argues that the regions core challenge is limited market competition. High market concentration, regulatory barriers, and weak enforcement of rules allow dominant firms to restrict entry, innovation, and opportunity. This book presents new evidence on how market power shapes firm behavior, employment, and inequality across sectors. It also demonstrates that reducing fragmentation, improving regulation, and strengthening competition policy can lower prices for consumers, raise productivity, create better jobs, and build fiscal capacity, making competition a central driver of development.