A Boxwood Comb for a Bald Head: OECD’s Lobbying Law Proposal

The OECD has just released its new Turkey report. As always, EKONOMİ newspaper caught a vital detail and featured it on the front page on Monday: A lobbying law is a must!

Dear readers, I have been writing columns since 2019. Being a columnist means making bold statements on subjects you are familiar with. This opens discussions on various topics and helps readers discover perspectives they may not have considered. At least, that’s how I see this job. Today, however, I’m not writing about something I am familiar with — I’m writing about something I know intimately: lobbying, the topic mentioned in the OECD report. I have managed one of Turkey’s leading lobbying firms for the past seven years. We provide consulting services to clients — from the world’s most valuable public companies to the most valuable private firms, from fast-growing Turkish enterprises to companies sold to foreign investors at record prices. Last year, we began operations in Azerbaijan and will hopefully expand further across the Turkic world.

“In Mediterranean countries, lobbying just doesn’t make sense.”

When I first set out to build this business, I called a senior executive who was then a vice president at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. He warned me: “Dear Ussal, whatever you do, don’t say you’re doing lobbying!” and added, “I gave the same advice recently to a former deputy minister in Spain. In Mediterranean countries, people don’t get lobbying. Say ‘strategic public affairs consulting’ instead.”

Legend has it that in the 1820s, President Ulysses Grant would sometimes hold consultations in the lobby of the Willard Hotel, across from the White House, to be more accessible. Those wishing to state their case would wait in the lobby, similar to how Ottoman sultans would listen to their subjects after Friday prayers. The term “lobbying” is said to have originated here. I once had the chance to stay at the Willard Hotel. Seeing how small the lobby was, I realized just how much the machinery of the state has grown over time.

Of course, face-to-face meetings are still crucial today. However, activities aimed at informing decision-makers to improve public policy mostly occur through detailed reports, presentations, and communications materials. These activities raise the quality of government decisions. Whether lobbying or strategic consulting, this dialogue has become one of the most essential elements of democracy in today’s increasingly complex economies.

In the U.S., you must declare that you are lobbying and disclose your clients and approximate earnings. A similar system exists in the European Union. Without registering for the so-called “Transparency Register,” you cannot lobby the European Parliament. If you do register, you get an access badge just like parliamentary staff, avoiding long lines at security like those outside Turkey’s Grand National Assembly. A few Nordic countries also have similar registration systems for lobbyists. Yet, in most EU member states, lobbying is not regulated at all. And crucially, none of these systems involve government “approval” — meaning the state doesn’t tell you whether you can or cannot be a lobbyist.

Although not required, I am a member of the EU Transparency Register and have also disclosed my activities in Turkey.

Applying Rich Country Laws to Poorer Ones Produces the Opposite Effect

The OECD report lists the main obstacles to Turkey’s economic development: macroeconomic instability, low female labor force participation, the risks of missing the green transition, and insufficient innovation among companies. Then, surprisingly, a solution is proposed: a lobbying law! In Turkish, we call such misplaced advice a boxwood comb for a bald head. In the international development literature, the fancy term is isomorphic mimicry — a concept developed by my esteemed Harvard professor, Lant Pritchett. In essence, it’s the false belief that copying the laws of wealthy countries will magically make a poorer country rich. In practice, it often produces the opposite effect.

Why is isomorphic mimicry still so common despite its failures? Two main reasons:

First, international organizations like the OECD often recommend the same policies to multiple countries out of laziness.

Second, adopting the standards of rich countries always feels safer for the bureaucrats who champion these laws. No one criticizes you for aligning with EU standards.

However, developing solutions tailored to Turkey’s realities would require taking risks.

Let’s look at how things work in countries with well-regulated lobbying:

Just last month, in Brussels, the Huawei-gate scandal revealed that Chinese tech giant Huawei gave EU parliamentarians thousands of euros worth of smartphones to sway votes against trade restrictions with China. (Apparently, gifting phones has become a universal lobbying technique!) In 2022, Qatar also distributed €1.5 million in cash through Greek and Italian MEPs to influence decisions. In response, the EU removed senior officials’ contact details from its website — again showing a bureaucratic preference for quick fixes over systemic reform. “If we cut off communication, there will be no corruption!”

Now, back to the irony: just a few pages before recommending a lobbying law, the OECD compares Turkey’s product market regulations to those of other OECD countries. It finds that the more regulations there are, the harder it is to enter markets, reducing competition and efficiency. Among 38 countries surveyed, Turkey ranks 38th — dead last!

A few years ago, I reviewed a draft lobbying law in Turkey that proposed that only former MPs (with at least two terms served) or ex-ministers could engage in lobbying! As the OECD itself notes elsewhere, attempts to regulate lobbying in Turkey would likely stifle lobbying and weaken legislative processes by reducing the information flow to lawmakers.

Turkey does not need a lobbying law.

Turkey does not need a law regulating artificial intelligence.

Turkey does not need a law regulating barbers’ working hours.

Thanks to the well-intentioned but misguided habit of isomorphic mimicry, our country is being forced into regulatory molds designed for Germany without first achieving Germany’s level of wealth. This ensures that we remain forever trapped in the middle-income bracket.

This article is a translated version of “Kel başa şimşir tarak: OECD’nin lobicilik kanunu önerisi”which was initially published in Economic Daily (Nasıl Bir Ekonomi Gazetesi) in Economic Daily on April 18, 2025.