Social sharing of information goods--wherein a single good is purchased and shared through a network of acquaintances such as friends or coworkers--is a significant concern for the providers of these goods. The effect of social sharing on firm pricing and profits depends critically on two...

We examine theoretically and experimentally two countervailing effects of collusion and symmetric mergers among bidders. On one hand, the pooling of information within bidding rings increases the precision of competing estimates. We demonstrate that, in average value auctions, this leads to more...