Fighting poverty requires smart policy intervention. In 2023, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development advised competition authorities to prioritize essential markets that take up large portions of family budgets. In 2025, the World Bank’s Competition Advocacy Contest highlighted reforms in Georgia, Egypt and Mexico for producing measurable consumer benefits. Together, these cases show how competition policy can support poverty reduction.

Georgia: Market Concentration vs. Pharmaceutical Reform

Prior to 2022, Georgia’s pharmaceutical market exposed families to extremely high medicine prices. Connections between pharmaceutical wholesalers and retail pharmacy chains allowed a small number of companies to hold significant market power, with markups on some essential medicines ranging from 2,000% to 3,000%. Without safeguards such as mandatory generic prescribing, generic drugs could even cost more than brand-name alternatives. According to the World Bank, 9.4% of Georgia’s population lived below the national poverty line in 2024.

Between 2022 and 2025, the Georgian Competition and Consumer Agency introduced major reforms, including mandatory generic prescribing, digital price tracking and stronger quality controls. In August 2025, regulators identified eight companies with dominant positions and fined four for abusing their market power to impose unfairly high medicine prices. These interventions produced significant results. Average medicine prices fell by 40% to 45%, returning an estimated $73 million in annual savings to households. Lower out-of-pocket health expenses increased families’ real purchasing power, leaving more income available for other necessities. More affordable medicine can also help people protect their health, remain productive and keep children enrolled in school. This shows how competition policy and poverty reduction can be connected through lower prices for essential goods.

Egypt: Educational Exploitation vs. Antitrust Enforcement

Prior to 2023, Egypt’s education market was affected by anticompetitive practices. Powerful private institutions and suppliers used exclusive agreements, product bundling and price-fixing across textbook publishing and school uniform production, restricting consumer choice and increasing pressure on low-income households. World Bank data show that 33.5% of Egypt’s population lived below the national poverty line in 2021 to 2022.

In 2023, the Egyptian Competition Authority intervened against anticompetitive practices across textbook and school uniform markets. Markups on international schoolbooks fell by as much as 85%, while public spending on state textbook printing decreased by 21%. These reforms produced estimated household savings of nearly $1 billion over five years. Reforms were also expected to double or triple the number of school uniform suppliers and increase employment in the sector by as much as 50%. Reducing financial barriers to education can help break cycles of poverty and create greater long-term economic stability. Increasing competition can also benefit businesses and new market entrants by replacing restrictive arrangements with more open supply chains.

Mexico: Collusive Health Procurement vs. Institutional Sanctions

Between 2008 and 2015, collusion affected Mexico’s public health care system. Private companies rigged bids for blood bank services and laboratory diagnostics purchased by the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) and the Institute for Security and Social Services for State Workers (ISSSTE), two of the country’s largest public health institutions. Because these systems serve more than 50% of Mexico’s population, bid-rigging increased public costs and reduced how far existing health care budgets could go. World Bank data show that 29.6% of Mexico’s population lived below the national poverty line in 2024.

Mexico’s competition authority, the Federal Economic Competition Commission COFECE, investigated the practices, penalized the bid-rigging cartel and imposed approximately 626.5 million Mexican pesos in fines on 11 companies and 14 individuals. Following enforcement, blood bank service costs fell by nearly 30% and laboratory testing prices dropped by almost 5%. A 2024 ex post assessment, later highlighted by the World Bank, found that the harm prevented and fines imposed were worth more than four times the agency’s annual operating budget. More transparent and competitive procurement allowed the public sector to make better use of existing resources, leaving more funds available for medical care.

What Georgia, Egypt and Mexico Show

The experiences of Georgia, Egypt and Mexico demonstrate that markets dominated by cartels or entrenched monopolies impede economic opportunity and growth. Long-term economic progress requires public institutions that can prevent anticompetitive behavior, make public procurement more transparent, protect consumers and remove barriers that unfairly favor established firms.

Well-designed competition policy encourages businesses to innovate, improve productivity and use capital more efficiently. Productive companies can expand, create stable employment and generate income that supports local spending. Poorly regulated markets, by contrast, can become increasingly concentrated and raise costs for consumers.

Addressing global poverty requires political will and smart policies that strengthen governance and economic opportunity. Well-regulated markets can help low-income families gain purchasing power and stability while companies benefit from a larger and more reliable customer base.

Georgia, Egypt and Mexico illustrate how targeted competition policy reforms can make markets work more effectively for families, governments and businesses at the same time. When leaders establish fair rules, enforce them consistently and protect vulnerable populations from anticompetitive practices, families gain more of the stability and purchasing power they need to build their own way forward. Continued enforcement and reform can help extend these gains to more low-income households.

– Aarush Pomar

Aarush is based in Chanhassen, MN, USA and focuses on Business and Good News for The Borgen Project.

Photo: Unsplash