We explore whether lawful cooperation in buyer groups facilitates collusion in the product market. Buyer groups … constitute credible threats. Hence, in theory, buyer groups facilitate collusion. We run several experimental treatments using …

We explore whether buyer groups, in which firms legally purchase inputs jointly, facilitate collusion in the product … credible threats, hence, in theory buyer groups facilitate collusion. We run several experimental treatments in a three … as a main factor causing collusive product markets. -- buyer groups ; cartels ; collusion ; communication ; experiments …

Factors facilitating collusion may not successfully predict cartel occurrence: when a factor predicts that collusion …