We test whether a nonbinding price ceiling may serve as a focal point for tacit collusion, using data from the credit card market during the 1980's. Our empirical model can distinguish instances when firms match a binding ceiling from instances when firms tacitly collude at a nonbinding ceiling. The results suggest that tacit collusion at nonbinding state-level ceilings was prevalent during the early 1980's, but that national integration of the market reduced the sustainability of tacit collusion by the end of the decade. The results highlight a perverse effect of price regulation.
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Volume (Year): 93 (2003) Issue (Month): 5 (December) Pages: 1703-1729 Download reference. The following formats are available: HTML
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Matti Liski & Juan-Pablo Montero, 2004.
"Forward trading and collusion in oligopoly,"
Working Papers
0412, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research.
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