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Silence is golden: communication, silence, and cartel stability

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  • Basuchoudhary, Atin
  • Conlon, John R.

Abstract

This paper studies how cartel stability is influenced by asymmetric information and communication about demand. Firms in a cartel face fluctuating demand in a repeated game framework. In each period, one randomly chosen firm knows current demand. In this context we consider two different equilibria -- one where the informed firm communicates its information to its partners and another where it does not. We show that cartels are extremely unstable when the informed firm communicates with the uninformed firms. However, when the informed firm does not communicate with the uninformed firms cartels can be as stable as when there are no demand fluctuations at all.

Suggested Citation

  • Basuchoudhary, Atin & Conlon, John R., 2013. "Silence is golden: communication, silence, and cartel stability," MPRA Paper 44246, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:44246
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    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/44246/1/MPRA_paper_44246.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    cartels; communication; stability;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design
    • C72 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Noncooperative Games
    • L00 - Industrial Organization - - General - - - General

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