Schumpeterian competition and its policy implications: The Latin American case

Abstract

Using the Schumpeterian notion of Creative Destruction, this paper discusses the role of antitrust in the process of economic reform and illustrates with the Latin American case. According to that notion, competition is a process wherein firms strive to survive under an evolving set of rules that engenders winners and losers. The main instrument that allows firms to be ahead of their competitors is the introduction of informational asymmetries that may result either from technological innovation, rent seeking or organized crime. To the public authorities this process implies two challenges. The former is to identify the situations that require intervention and the latter is to ensure that innovation will be the only available instrument for creating in- formational asymmetries.