On the Impact of Import Quotas on a Quantity-Fixing Cartel in a Two-Country-Setting.

In a static supergame context, a model is presented in which a foreign and a domestic firm form a cartel for selling a homogeneous good. In order to maximize joint cartel profit, the two firms have agreed to restrict sales to their own home market. Due to transfer costs, this market split pareto-dominates other cartel solutions. Side payments are assumed to be feasible. The introduction of an import quota may affect cartel stability as measured by a so-called critical interest rate. The two-country setting and the feasibility of side payments lead to results very different from previous findings that mild import regulations foster cartelization whereas severe restrictions destabilize quantity-setting cartels.