With etymological origin in the Latin concertatio, concertation is the process and consequence of concerting (agreeing, agreeing, stipulating). The concept is often used in politics to name a coalition or alliance of parties.
In Chile, between 1988 and 2013 there was the Concertación de Partidos por la Democracia, born as the Concertación de Partidos por el No and popularly known as the Concertación. This coalition composed of center, center-left and left parties ruled for two decades (1990 – 2010).
The emergence of the Concertación de Partidos por la Democracia began with the struggle against the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. In 1988 there was a plebiscite to determine if Pinochet should remain in power and the “no” was imposed, promoted by the Concertación.
The Party of National Coalition, on the other hand, is a political force in El Salvador, founded in 1961 as National Conciliation Party. It is a conservative party that ruled the nation between 1962 and 1979.
Ecuador has, since 2007, the Concertation Movement, which was previously called the National Democratic Concertation. Its headquarters are in Quito, the national capital.
The idea of concertation also appears in Peru as a parliamentary group: Parliamentary Agreement. This bloc is made up of congressmen belonging to the Peruvian Aprista Party and by independent leaders.
A price fixing, finally, is an agreement to establish two or more companies to prevent normal operation of the free market. This practice is usually punishable by law, since it benefits the businesses involved but harms the final consumer by depriving them of the normal evolution of market prices.
In the words of Sergio Salinas, who works as a professor at the School of Public Management belonging to the Universidad del Pacífico, in Peru, the concept of price agreement can be defined as a practice that aims to generate extraordinary income for people involved through a distortion of the expected functioning of the market in which they operate, all this to the clear detriment of consumers.
Through this tactic, which consists of setting the prices of certain products between two or more stores that should compete legitimately with the ultimate goal of satisfying customers, it is possible to carry out a practice similar to monopoly, although in this If the risks and resources are divided between two or more companies. It is important to note that one of the measures taken by the businesses involved is to restrict the production of the products, something that also affects those who do not participate in the crime.
Although price agreement is a reprehensible act from any point of view, it becomes even more difficult to understand when it is put into practice among pharmacy owners, one of the areas in which it occurs most often. In this case, affected consumers must pay more money than legally established to access products they need to take care of their health.
The Justice pursues and punishes companies that engage in this crime, and fines are usually millions of dollars. In addition, one of the most serious punishments is the exposure they suffer when the media makes all the information available to the public, together with emails and documents for internal use in which the criminals clearly mention price manipulation.
Other markets that are usually involved in price agreements are banking, beer and insurance, although the authorities must monitor all of them, especially those that generate mass consumption and still do not have many firms important to represent them.
