We use experiments to analyze what type of communication is most effective in achieving cooperation in a simple collusion game. Consistent with the theories of collusion and cheap talk, an initial burst of collusion rapidly collapses if subjects can only use a limited message space that does not...

In traditional industrial organization models of Bertrand supergames, the critical discount factor governing the sustainability of collusion is independent of key demand and supply parameters. Recent research has demonstrated that these counterintuitive results stem from the assumption that...

We use experiments to analyze what type of communication is most effective in achieving cooperation in a simple collusion game. Consistent with the existing literature on communication and collusion, even minimal communication leads to a short run increase in collusion. However, in a limited...

Allowing firms to cooperate in their R&D is an industrial policy which has received much attention in recent economics literature. Many of these contributions are based on the seminal analysis of d?Aspremont and Jacquemin [1988]. We provide a general version of their model which encompasses...

When firms engage in price discrimination under competition, they can face a trade-off when choosing to collude. In order to maintain price discrimination, upper-level executives may have to involve those lower-level employees with the demand information needed to tailor prices to markets and...

We analyze spying out a rival’s price in a Bertrand market game with incomplete information. Spying transforms a simultaneous into a robust sequential moves game. We provide conditions for profitable espionage. The spied at firm may attempt to immunize against spying by delaying its pricing...

We study an infinitely repeated oligopoly game in which firms compete on quantity and one of them is capacity constrained. We show that collusion sustainability is non-monotonic in the size of the capacity constrained firm, which has little incentive to deviate from a cartel. We also present...

Effectively fighting cartels requires that cartels be discovered. Economic theory gives some behavioural patterns that are indicative of collusion and allow the distinction between collusion from competition. This paper focuses on the volatility of market shares as indicator for collusive...

Sales are a widespread and well-known phenomenon that has been documented in several product markets. Regularities in such periodic price reductions appear to suggest that the phenomenon cannot be entirely attributed to random variations in supply, demand, or the aggregate price level. Certain...

We analyze spying out a rival's price in a Bertrand market game with incomplete information. Spying transforms a simultaneous into a robust sequential moves game. We provide conditions for profitable espionage. The spied at firm may attempt to immunize against spying by delaying its pricing...