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Price Fixing Hits Home: An Empirical Study of US Price-Fixing Conspiracies

Author

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  • Margaret C. Levenstein

    (University of Michigan Ross School of Business)

  • Valerie Y. Suslow

    (Johns Hopkins University Carey School of Business)

Abstract

This paper analyzes a sample of Section 1, Sherman Act price fixing cases brought by the US Department of Justice between 1961 and 2013. Over 500 cartels were prosecuted during this period. The determinants of cartel formation and cartel breakup are estimated, including analysis of the impact of the discount rate, business cycles, and antitrust policy. We find that cartels are more likely to break up during periods of high real interest rates, presumably because higher interest rates are associated with greater impatience. The adoption of a stronger amnesty policy has no significant impact on cartel breakup over this period, although the results suggest some association with lower cartel formation rates.

Suggested Citation

  • Margaret C. Levenstein & Valerie Y. Suslow, 2016. "Price Fixing Hits Home: An Empirical Study of US Price-Fixing Conspiracies," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 48(4), pages 361-379, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:revind:v:48:y:2016:i:4:d:10.1007_s11151-016-9520-5
    DOI: 10.1007/s11151-016-9520-5
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    Cited by:

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    2. Georg Clemens & Holger A. Rau, 2022. "Either with us or against us: experimental evidence on partial cartels," Theory and Decision, Springer, vol. 93(2), pages 237-257, September.
    3. Stefan Napel & Dominik Welter, 2021. "Simple Voting Games and Cartel Damage Proportioning," Games, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-18, October.
    4. Tanja Artiga González & Markus Schmid & David Yermack, 2019. "Does Price Fixing Benefit Corporate Managers?," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 65(10), pages 4813-4840, October.
    5. Roger D. Blair & Wenche Wang, 2018. "The NCAA Cartel and Antitrust Policy," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 52(2), pages 351-368, March.
    6. Willem H. Boshoff & Rossouw van Jaarsveld, 2019. "Recurrent Collusion: Cartel Episodes and Overcharges in the South African Cement Market," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 54(2), pages 353-380, March.
    7. Mats A. Bergman & Johan Lundberg & Sofia Lundberg & Johan Y. Stake, 2020. "Interactions Across Firms and Bid Rigging," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 56(1), pages 107-130, February.
    8. Lenhard, Severin, 2024. "Cartel Stability in Times of Low Interest Rates," VfS Annual Conference 2024 (Berlin): Upcoming Labor Market Challenges 302361, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    9. Katsoulacos, Yannis & Motchenkova, Evgenia & Ulph, David, 2015. "Penalizing cartels: The case for basing penalties on price overcharge," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 70-80.
    10. Simon Roberts & Witness Simbanegavi & Thando Vilakazi, 2023. "Cementing regional integration or building walls? Competition, cartels and regional integration in the cement industry in Africa," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(2), pages 437-452, February.
    11. Yannis Katsoulacos & Evgenia Motchenkova & David Ulph, 2023. "Measuring the effectiveness of anti‐cartel interventions in the shadow of recidivism," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 44(4), pages 2393-2407, June.
    12. Carmen García & Joan Ramon Borrell & José Manuel Ordóñez-de-Haro & Juan Luis Jiménez, 2022. "Managers’ expectations, business cycles and cartels’ life cycle," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 53(3), pages 451-484, June.
    13. Forsbacka, Tove & Le Coq, Chloé & Marvão, Catarina, 2023. "Cartel birth and death dynamics: Empirical evidence," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    14. Polemis, Michael, 2024. "Are Cartels Forever? Global Evidence Using Quantile Regression Analysis," MPRA Paper 120534, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Carol Osler & Alasdair Turnbull, 2016. "Dealer Trading at the Fix," Working Papers 101R, Brandeis University, Department of Economics and International Business School, revised Jun 2017.

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