Cartels

This lecture, PowerPoint slides, and movie provide a relatively non-technical introduction to cartels. After describing the characteristics of cartels predicted by economic theory, the instructor shows a movie of the "secret" meetings of the lysine cartel. This movie demonstrates that an actual cartel behaves as economic theories predict. Although the lecture is designed for undergraduates, graduate students normally enjoy this introduction as a break from more technical material. The lecture and the accompanying PowerPoint slides take up the first hour of a 90 minute class, and the movie (roughly 24 minutes) takes up the rest of the time. The lecture can be reduced to an hour by skipping the game theory section and going lightly over a few other areas.