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Collusion et politique de la concurrence en information asymétrique

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  • Thierry Pénard
  • Saïd Souam

Abstract

This article attempts to determine the optimal antitrust policy against price-fixing when competition authorities imperfectly observe firms' behaviour. By investigating or auditing on markets, authorities can detect collusion. We show that the strenght of investigations depends on the characteristics of the market, the cost of investigation, the severity of punishment and the degree of stability of the collusion. Moreover, it is shown that authorities always tolerate some degree of collusion as long as investigation is costly. The results of our paper allow us to establish some guidelines for antitrust policy.

Suggested Citation

  • Thierry Pénard & Saïd Souam, 2002. "Collusion et politique de la concurrence en information asymétrique," Annals of Economics and Statistics, GENES, issue 66, pages 209-233.
    • Handle: RePEc:adr:anecst:y:2002:i:66:p:209-233
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    Cited by:

    1. Mohamed Jellal & Saïd Souam, 2004. "Delegation, Incentives and Antitrust Enforcement," Working Papers 2004-41, Center for Research in Economics and Statistics.
    2. Sami Debbichi & Walid Hichri, 2014. "Market Power and Collusion on Interconnection Phone Market in Tunisia : What Lessons from International Experiences," Working Papers halshs-00956638, HAL.
    3. Jellal, Mohamed & Souam, Said, 2012. "A theory of antitrust enforcement game," MPRA Paper 38343, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Le Pape, Nicolas & Zhao, Kai, 2014. "Horizontal mergers and uncertainty," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 8, pages 1-31.
    5. Kai Zhao, 2015. "Product competition and R&D investment under spillovers within full or partial collusion games," Latin American Economic Review, Springer;Centro de Investigaciòn y Docencia Económica (CIDE), vol. 24(1), pages 1-27, December.
    6. Sami ALI Debbichi, 2015. "Market Power and competition effect on Interconnection fees: Econometric Estimation of the Mobile Tunisian Market," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 35(2), pages 1227-1236.
    7. repec:ipg:wpaper:2014-580 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Jellal, Mohamed & Souam, Said, 2014. "Incentives and optimal antitrust policy," MPRA Paper 57246, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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