Chukwuka Okafor

State Aid and Public Procurement: Containing Threats to Free Markets & Competition Chukwuka Okafor

Businesses over the years have sought to dominate the business landscape and neutralise opposition in the process. States on the other hand, for various reasons and rationale, usually seek to protect and promote local enterprise over foreign competition. The global economy has witnessed a tremendous increase in market access and competition, however many states still engage in practices that protect local interest and stifle external competition. This book focuses on the use of public procurement and state aid by states to promote local enterprises thereby giving them unfair advantage over foreign enterprises. The different approaches adopted by the two major economic blocs (the USA and the EU) are analysed and juxtaposed with the attempts of the WTO to encourage free markets and competition. The analysis will engender a better understanding of non-tariff trade barriers and the challenges facing the WTO, and should be particularly beneficial in policy making in economies and regulating competition particularly in developing countries, or to anyone with an interest in the effects of state policies and regulations on free markets and competition.