Free competition: beyond the law. Reflections for a contextual analysis

Abstract

To talk about competition, first there must be more than one competitor, preferably many; second, they must be on equal footing. But this is rarely the case. Regulation, in principle, seeks to address these distortions; however, it also, quite often, creates them. Regulations do not operate in a vacuum, and many times, there is a gap between the assumptions of the law and reality. This paper seeks to provide elements for reflection on these topics from a perspective different from the traditional exegetical analysis of the law, where you not only have to analyze the text but also the context. Reality is not uniform, and in this sense, its treatment should not be either, especially when three economies coexist: a formal one, an informal one, with small and medium-sized enterprises, numerous; and an illegal economy associated with criminality. On the other hand, various situations arise that alter free competition, among others, corruption, conflicts of interest, and also the biases that public institutions may have in their decisions