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Cartel Sustainability and Cartel Stability

Author

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  • Marc Escrihuela-Villar

    (Department of Economics, University of Alicante and Center for Financial Studies)

Abstract

The paper studies how does the size of a cartel affect the possibility that its members can sustain a collusive agreement. I obtain that collusion is easier to sustain the larger the cartel is. Then, I explore the implications of this result on the incentives of firms to participate in a cartel. Firms will be more willing to participate because otherwise, they risk that collusion completely collapses, as remaining cartel members are unable to sustain collusion.

Suggested Citation

  • Marc Escrihuela-Villar, 2004. "Cartel Sustainability and Cartel Stability," Working Papers 2004.44, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    • Handle: RePEc:fem:femwpa:2004.44
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. James W. Friedman, 1971. "A Non-cooperative Equilibrium for Supergames," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 38(1), pages 1-12.
    2. Corchon, Luis C. & Mas-Colell, Andreu, 1996. "On the stability of best reply and gradient systems with applications to imperfectly competitive models," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 51(1), pages 59-65, April.
    3. Claude d'Aspremont & Alexis Jacquemin & Jean Jaskold Gabszewicz & John A. Weymark, 1983. "On the Stability of Collusive Price Leadership," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 16(1), pages 17-25, February.
    4. Rothschild, R., 1999. "Cartel stability when costs are heterogeneous," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 17(5), pages 717-734, July.
    5. Volker Nocke, 1999. "Cartel Stability under Capacity Constraints: The Traditional View Restored," STICERD - Economics of Industry Papers 23, Suntory and Toyota International Centres for Economics and Related Disciplines, LSE.
    6. Reinhard Selten, 1973. "A Simple Model of Imperfect Competition, where 4 are Few and 6 are Many," Center for Mathematical Economics Working Papers 008, Center for Mathematical Economics, Bielefeld University.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Mariana Cunha & Paula Sarmento, 2014. "Does Vertical Integration Promote Downstream Incomplete Collusion? An Evaluation of Static and Dynamic Stability," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 14(1), pages 1-38, March.
    2. Palsule-Desai, Omkar D. & Tirupati, Devanath & Chandra, Pankaj, 2013. "Stability issues in supply chain networks: Implications for coordination mechanisms," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 142(1), pages 179-193.
    3. Pedro Mendi & Róbert F. Veszteg, 2009. "Sustainability of collusion: evidence from the late 19th century basque iron and steel industry," Investigaciones Economicas, Fundación SEPI, vol. 33(3), pages 385-405, September.
    4. Panayiotis Agisilaou, 2013. "Collusion in Industrial Economics and Optimally Designed Leniency Programmes - A Survey," Working Paper series, University of East Anglia, Centre for Competition Policy (CCP) 2013-03, Centre for Competition Policy, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK..
    5. Fazel M. Farimani & Seyed Reza Mirnezami & Ali Maleki, 2019. "A Gas Cartel in the Global Market? Hype or Reality," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 9(6), pages 296-304.
    6. Palsule-Desai, Omkar D., 2015. "Cooperatives for fruits and vegetables in emerging countries: Rationalization and impact of decentralization," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 114-140.
    7. Roman Inderst & Frank P. Maier-Rigaud & Ulrich Schwalbe, 2014. "Umbrella Effects," Journal of Competition Law and Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 10(3), pages 739-763.
    8. Davide Dragone, 2007. "Should One Sell Domestic Firms to Foreign Ones? A Tale of Delegation, Acquisition and Collusion," Rivista di Politica Economica, SIPI Spa, vol. 97(3), pages 85-112, May-June.
    9. Odenkirchen, Johannes, 2017. "Pricing Behavior of Cartel Outsiders in Incomplete Cartels," VfS Annual Conference 2017 (Vienna): Alternative Structures for Money and Banking 168309, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Collusion; Partial cartels; Trigger strategies; Optimal punishment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L11 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Production, Pricing, and Market Structure; Size Distribution of Firms
    • L13 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets
    • L41 - Industrial Organization - - Antitrust Issues and Policies - - - Monopolization; Horizontal Anticompetitive Practices
    • D43 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Oligopoly and Other Forms of Market Imperfection

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