This paper studies the coordinated effects of the merger between American Airlines and USAirways by examining the extent to which the connecting prices of the nonmerging legacy carriers(Delta and United) evolved when the merger eliminated Advantage Fares, a connecting flight pricediscounting...

Multiemployer collective bargaining relationships between unions and employer associations easily devolve into legalized cartels. Once unions establish themselves as the bargaining representative for employers’ employees, the employers have much to gain from banding together as an association,...

At the recent Section 2 hearings focused on the antitrust analysis of exclusive dealing contracts, a sensible consensus view emerged that a necessary condition for anticompetitive harm in an exclusive dealing or de facto exclusive contract is that the contract deprives rivals of the opportunity...

This study explores stability in efficient collusion in government procurement auctions. In first- and second-price auctions with independent private values, we look at the possibility of vetoing collusion mechanisms and the learning of the other bidders after vetoing. The collusions in...

We examine auction data to determine if bid rigging presents in procurement auctions for paving works in Ibaraki City, Osaka, Japan. We first show that sporadic bidding wars are caused by the participation ofpotential outsiders. Assuming that the ring is all-inclusive if the auction is not the...

In this paper, we estimate quantitatively the determinants of variation in administrative fines imposed on companies by the European Commission for price-fixing violations. Estimates from our behavioral model provide the first direct test of the predictive power of the optimal deterrence theory...

This thesis studies the impact, determinants, organization, internal dynamics and characteristics of Dutch cartels during a period in which most cartels were legal. We concentrate on the legal-cartel era defined as the period 1935–1998 wherein the Dutch legislation was cartel friendly. The...

Did Microsoft artificial entry barriers (through its bundling and contractual practices) to remove a competitive threat to its Windows operating system or were Microsoft's actions explained by economic efficiency justifications? The paper presents an economic framework for examining this...

We provide empirical evidence that many multi-product firms have each participated in several cartels over the past 50 years. Standard analysis of cartel conduct, as well as enforcement policy, is rooted in the presumption that each cartel in which a given firm participates is a singular...

This paper finds evidence of an inverse U shape in the number of cartels detected by a Competition Agency (CA) over its lifetime. We interpret this as evidence that, as the CA builds up experience in enforcement, this feeds back into the business community to deter future cartel formation. We...