Ecuador’s antitrust policy

THE ECONOMIST: WITHIN months of becoming Ecuador’s president in 2007, Rafael Correa (pictured) announced that he was working on antitrust legislation, pointing out that Ecuador was one of the few countries in South America without such a law. This August he introduced a bill that aimed to increase the market share of small and mid-sized companies and “democratise access to the means of production”. René Ramírez, the planning secretary, promised that it would “never affect honest businessmen”. But the initiative, which became law last week when Mr Correa declined to veto it, seems to reflect the president’s scepticism of what he calls “the myth of competition” rather than any desire to promote it. Read Article