Did the National Industrial Recovery Act Foster Collusion? Evidence from the Macaroni Industry

Chris Vickers and Nicolas Ziebarth

The Journal of Economic History, 2014, vol. 74, issue 3, 831-862

Abstract: We use plant-level data from the Census of Manufactures to study collusion in the United States macaroni industry during the Great Depression. The National Industrial Recovery Act was passed in 1933 to promote recovery through industry coordination of economic activity. While there is no change in the price-cost margin after the law is passed, a variety of markers of anti-competitive conduct suggest that collusion indeed increased. Prices became less responsive to changes in cost, the dispersion of prices decreased, and the persistence in prices increased.

Date: 2014
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