The Private International Cartels (PIC) Data Set : Guide and Summary Statistics, 1990-2019

This paper describes the sources and methods used to create the PIC data set, which the author believes to be the largest collection of legal-economic information on contemporary price-fixing cartels. It details the scope, strengths, and limitations of the data therein. Finally, summary descriptive statistics are developed for cartels detected during 1990-2017. A few highlights are:• The number of new cartels detected peaked at 83 per year in 2010-2015.• Of 1405 investigated cartels, 1130 were convicted, 124 dismissed, and 151 undecided.• Relative to GDP, cartels operating in Europe are triple the number in North America.• However, the affected sales' size of all European cartels equals the N. American ones.• Affected sales total about $900 billion, of which global cartels account for 37%.• The average guilty cartel's estimated sales size is $917 million, global $6.9 billion.• More than 49,000 companies were indicted for international price fixing. • Monetary penalties reached $233 billion, which equals 2.0% of affected sales.• More than half of all cartel penalties are paid to North American authorities.• EC and DOJ fines were 95% of world in early 1990s; down to 40% in 2015-2019.• 65% of guilty corporate cartelists are headquartered in W. Europe.• 1349 persons were sanctioned: the median fine for 584 was $50,000.• Prison sentences imposed on 376 executives total 1833 years.• Gross cartel overcharges are $64 to $286 trillion, two-thirds by global cartels.• Worldwide cartel penalties declined after 2012-2014