We review current methods for calculating fines against cartels in the US and EU, and simulate their deterrence effects under different assumptions on the legal and economic environment. It is likely that European fines have not had significant deterrence effects before leniency programs were...

Globalization – improved access to integrated, anonymous markets – is claimed to crowd out cooperative relations: from reciprocal exchange to lifetime employment, from relational governance to corruption/collusion. We study how agents’ intertemporal preferences and their access to markets...

Leniency programmes (or policies) reduce sanctions against cartel members that self-report to the Antitrust Authority. We focus on their ability to directly deter cartels and analogous criminal organizations by undermining internal trust, increasing individual incentives to ‘cheat’ on...

Peering decisions between Internet Service Providers (ISPs) contain substantial non-measurable aspects requiring trust and informal cooperation among peering partners. We study whether virtual districts are observed between Internet peers. Our empirical analysis of the bilateral peering...

JEL Classification: D43, G21, G28, L13

The paper shows that fighting corruption with leniency programs -- reductions of the legal sanctions for wrongdoers who spontaneously report to law enforcers -- may be highly counterproductive. These programs are typically ``moderate,'' in the sense of only reducing, or at best cancelling the...

I show that as long as the stock market has perfect foresight, profits are distributed as dividends, and incentives are paid more than once or are deferred, stock-related compensation packages are strong incentives for managers to support tacit collusive agreements in repeated oligopolies. The...

We study the specific corporate governance problems of central banks in their complex role of inflation guardians, bankers’ banks, financial industry regulators/supervisors and, in some cases, competition authorities and deposit insurance agencies. We review the current institutional...