However, it can block a government's actions that discriminate in favour of some firms relative to others.

ECONOMIST: French business

Some of the darkest chapters in human history were written by governments that discriminate in favour of some, but against others, based on race.

ECONOMIST: Turkey in Europe?

But it is a colossal jump from extending help to people who happen to be members of minorities to allowing laws that discriminate in favour of people on the basis of their skin.

ECONOMIST: Affirmative action

If public-sector workers cannot afford to live in the south-east of England, then the government should be changing pay scales that currently discriminate in favour of public sector workers in cheap bits of the country and against those in expensive bits, rather than reintroducing something that once looked like a boon to the poor and turned out to be a shackle.

ECONOMIST: Social housing

On the contrary, present policies, including taxes and safety regulations, are creating incentives in the market for energy that discriminate against fuel cells and in favour of traditional fossil fuels.

ECONOMIST: Stepping on the gas