Rent seeking in Ecuador

...The incoming Pres. Palacio has accommodated Gutierrez's leftist opposition by appointing Rafael Correa Delgado minister of the economy (Bloomberg). Min. Correa is an economics professor who criticized the decision in 2000 to adopt the US dollar as Ecuador's currency; however, he has said he has no plans to change the currency to something else soon. Financial markets have reacted vociferously, although I think Bloomberg may be overreacting to Min. Correa personally; I strongly suspect there was a lot of rent-seeking afoot in the planned liquidation of Petroleos Ecuador, and with Min. Correa coming to power, a group of sleazoids stormed out of the markets for the country's external debt in a huff. http://www.jamesrmaclean.com/archives/000787.html