This article aims to analyze the relations between the process of institution-building and the broader historical and social setting, and particularly the relationship between the intensity of pro-market reforms and greater autonomy for the antitrust body. Autonomy is crucial in a regulatory format aimed at generating credibility in the stability of rules and thus reducing the level of uncertainty to which economic agents are exposed. Correlations between the institutional formulas adopted in Latin America and the rates of economic freedom indicate that choices concerning the regulatory regimen and incentives framework take the broader institutional environment into account.
antitrust; autonomy; Latin America; regulatory credibility; institutions; economic liberalization
