Cartels and horizontal mergers can be viewed as alternative arrangements to increase profitability and act as means of introducing horizontal restraint. The choice between the two forms from the perspective of firms is determined by the structure of industry, organization of firms, and the...

In this paper, we tackle the dilemma of pruning versus proliferation in a vertically differentiated oligopoly under the assumption that some firms collude and control both the range of variants for sale and their corresponding prices, likewise a multiproduct firm. We analyse whether pruning...

Algorithmic collusion is a hot topic within antitrust circles in Europe, US and beyond. But some economists downplay algorithmic collusion as unlikely, if not impossible. This paper responds to these criticisms by pointing to new emerging evidence and the gap between law and this particular...

In this paper, we analyze the question of membership in a non-renewable resource cartel, with specific application to OPEC. Using a simple model of a non-renewable resource market, we show that the benefits of cartel membership are related to the size of remaining reserves. Domestic petroleum...

Successful upstream collusion must satisfy both the incentive constraint (keeping cartel members in line) and the compensation constraint (preventing lawsuits from downstream firms). Our analysis shows that there is a non-monotonic and inverted U-shaped relationship between cartel incidence and...

In this paper, we analyze the question of membership in a non-renewable resource cartel, with specific application to OPEC. One would expect the benefits of cartel membership to be positively related to the size of remaining reserves, while domestic petroleum consumption should be negatively...

This article examines the nature of the effect of the U.S. Supreme Court's Empagran decision through the lens of the global vitamins cartel, using legal and economic analysis and also empirical data to describe the effect. The article commences with a discussion of the analytic approach adopted...

In this paper, we have tried to show that how a strategic move from large capital or corporate traders of agriculture commodities, including food processing firms, retailers, wholesalers affecting and changing the preferences of the small capital regional or local traders of agriculture...

Price-fixing is characterized when firms are concerned about creating suspicions that a cartel has formed. Antitrust laws have a complex effect on pricing as they interact with the conditions determining the internal stability of the cartel. The qualitative properties of pricing dynamics are...

Empirical examinations into the determinants of cartel overcharges are limited in the economic literature on collusion. We review the literature and perform a meta-analysis model of overcharges using data on 112 contemporary, penalized bid-rigging episodes over 27 years. We find that the price...