Welcome to the website of the Centre for Regulation and Competition (CRC), a partnership between internationally recognised institutions in the UK, Africa and Asia to provide research, advisory services and capacity building relating to regulation and competition.
The CRC conducts research into rules-based systems and processes of regulation and competition in developing countries and their contribution to poverty reduction. The research is, in part, a response to a perspective that holds that poverty reduction in developing countries would be better served by the adoption of a more market-oriented development strategy. The CRC’s work attempts to correct deficiencies in the literature on development, and contribute to policy and practice in developing countries.
Mission Statement
The Centre on Regulation and Competition engages in research and capacity building to improve regulation and competition in developing countries. The Centre is committed to improve policy through a multidisciplinary approach that focuses unswervingly on the alleviation of poverty, is conceptually innovative, and is grounded in reality. Building upon its current reputation and critical mass of expertise, Manchester aspires to be one of the world’s leading research centres in this field.
CRC Overview
The Centre on Regulation and Competition at the Institute for Development Policy and Management (IDPM) in the University of Manchester was established in 2000 as a multidisciplinary research centre funded by the Department for International Development (DFID). The CRC consists of a partnership of internationally recognised research institutions drawn from six research institutes and Universities in the UK, Africa and Asia. These are Cranfield University in the UK, the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research, University of Ghana, the National College of Public Administration and Governance and the School of Economics, University of the Philippines, the School of Public Management and Planning, the Department of Applied Economics, University of Malaysia, the Institute for Policy Studies in Sri Lanka and the Energy Resources Institute (TERI) in India.
The CRC was established to provide a home for research into rules-based systems and processes of regulation and competition in developing countries. The need to research these areas arose in response to the consensus that had emerged, particularly among the international development agencies that poverty reduction in developing countries would be better served by the adoption of a more market-oriented development strategy. Central to this view was the need to reshape the role of the state in regulating the behaviour of markets, institutions and individuals in the interests of efficiency while safeguarding those of the poor.
Contributing to Knowledge
CRC aims to contribute to and share new knowledge on regulation and competition in developing countries. The objectives established for CRC’s research and capacity building have been based on our understanding of the deficiencies in the received literature, and in policy and practice in developing Countries, in these areas. More specifically these knowledge deficiencies or knowledge deficits have included:
- A lack of theoretical and empirical research into processes of regulation and competition in developing countries and their implications for the design and implementation of policy
- Insufficient research into the ways in which regulatory governance, the study of institutions, legal systems and political processes, contribute to the understanding of processes of competition and regulation in developing countries
- deficiencies in the approach towards capacity building for regulatory institutions in developing countries, and in particular to the ways in which research informs approaches to capacity building
As a consequence of the emphasis on ‘regulating for development’, the main objectives driving the Centre’s work are:
(1) to provide new thinking on regulation and competition in developing countries, and support the development of policies, with a pro-poor perspective
(2) to develop effective methods for appraising regulatory and competition options that incorporate poverty and distributional criteria
(3) to improve understanding of the bureaucratic limits and political processes and relationships that influence the design and implementation of regulation and competition policies
(4) to increase awareness among policy-makers and practioners of how policy design and implementation on regulation and competition can be improved to meet development objectives
(5) to strengthen the knowledge of researchers, policy-makers and managers in respect of newer approaches to regulation and competition policy in developing countries
(6) through all these objectives to identify the characteristics and applicability of good practice models.
Here is the list of our partners who support our initiative: