How a cartel operates: evidence from Graphite Electrode cartel from a social network perspective

Carlos Ponce and Flavia Roldán
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Carlos Ponce: Universidad Alberto Hurtado
Flavia Roldán: Universidad ORT Uruguay. Facultad de Administración y Ciencias Sociales. Departmento de Economía
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Flavia Roldán

No 113, Documentos de Investigación from Universidad ORT Uruguay. Facultad de Administración y Ciencias Sociales

Abstract: This article analyses the organization of communication in the Graphite Electrode cartel. By using European Commission data, we reconstruct the network of communication among cartel’s participants. From this information, we can state that the Graphite Electrode conspiracy is organized in a decentralized way, where the hierarchical rank of participants was key in the organization of meetings. The low level of density index in the overall network may indicate that cartel’s designers took care about security target by reducing the level of communication. The analysis of different centrality measures may suggest that cartel’s instigators exerted a role of coordinators, but in a position such that they remained hidden from antitrust scrutiny. That is, operativeness could has been limited by the security target.

Keywords: affiliation network; collusion; organization; communication. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L1 L4 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 24 pages
Date: 2016-12
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