Does Parallel Behavior Provide Some Evidence of Collusion?
Abstract
Antitrust authorities often consider parallel pricing and market share stability to be clues of illegal collusion. To analyze whether this inference is correct, I develop a model of price competition with differentiated products in which demand and costs vary over time. In many cases parallel pricing does not distinguish between a competitive and a collusive outcome. However, in some cases perfect parallel pricing is compatible only with a competitive equilibrium, and therefore provides some evidence that firms did not collude. I also show that the competitive equilibrium is characterized by a higher market share stability than a collusive equilibrium.Download Info
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Bibliographic Info
Article provided by De Gruyter in its journal Review of Law & Economics.
Volume (Year): 2 (2006)
Issue (Month): 1 ()
Pages: 5
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Web page: http://www.degruyter.com
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Web: http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/rle
Related research
Keywords: Collusion; antitrust; competition; parallelism;References
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Citations
Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.Cited by:
- Oilver Budzinski & Katharina Wacker, 2007.
"The Prohibition of the Proposed Springer-ProSiebenSat.1-Merger: How much Economics in German Merger Control?,"
Marburg Working Papers on Economics
200704, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Department of Economics (Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung).
- Budzinski, Oliver & Wacker, Katharina, 2007. "The prohibition of the proposed Springer-ProSiebenSat.1-Merger: how much economics in German merger control?," IBES Diskussionsbeiträge 160, University of Duisburg-Essen, Faculty for Economics and Business Administration.
- de Mesnard, Louis, 2009.
"Is the French mobile phone cartel really a cartel?,"
International Journal of Production Economics,
Elsevier, vol. 122(2), pages 663-677, December.
- Mesnard, Louis de, 2009. "Is the French mobile phone cartel really a cartel?," LEG - Document de travail - Economie 2009-02, LEG, Laboratoire d'Economie et de Gestion, CNRS UMR 5118, Université de Bourgogne.
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