Recent evidence in the support of oligopolistic cooperation: a network approach

This paper seeks to retest the oligopolistic cooperation hypothesis of market structure from the Centralized Private Sector Planning literature, using 2010 data on corporate board membership and recent advances in social network analysis. Centrality measures are calculated based upon the corporate governance network emerging from common board membership on Fortune 100 firms. The findings herein suggest that not only does oligopolistic cooperation continue to characterize the US economy, but directors from the finance and insurance sector occupy a significantly more central role in the planning process than those of other industries.