Shaping antimonopoly legislation? the lobbying of business elites in Brazil

Abstract

Many people insinuate that large corporations lobby against effective antimonopoly legislation. But what, in fact, is the evidence to support those allegations? This article collects and examines data and documents — legislative records, academic literature, documents of business associa- tions, and press archives — about the lobby of Brazilian business elites on antitrust legislation. It aims to contribute to the academic debate by being the first academic work to comprehen- sively look at corporate lobbying on Brazilian antitrust bills and legislation, from the first anti- trust regulations in 1938 to the current Antitrust Act of 2011. The results of the analysis show that Brazilian business organisations and their leaders have consistently monitored and tried to influence the outcome of antitrust bills and legislation. The article finds a pattern of business elites lobbying for a less interventionist antitrust legislation or the entire repeal of the antitrust legislation. The current Antitrust Act 2011 was turned less interventionist than the Act of 1994, by amendments proposed by a heavily corporate-funded senator in his electoral campaign, who worked accordingly with the lobby of the National Industry Confederation (CNI).