On the sociology of cartels

Justus Haucap and Christina Heldman ()
Additional contact information
Christina Heldman: Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf

European Journal of Law and Economics, 2023, vol. 56, issue 2, No 3, 289-323

Abstract: Abstract We analyze 15 German cartels, focusing on the personal characteristics of the individual participants, the methods and frequency of communication as well as the internal organizational structures within the cartels and their eventual breakup. Our results indicate that cartel members are highly homogeneous and often rely on existing networks within the industry, such as trade associations. Most impressively, only two of the 158 individuals involved in these 15 cartels were female, suggesting that gender plays a role for cartel formation. We further identify various forms of communication and divisions of responsibilities and show that leniency programs are a powerful tool in breaking up cartels. Based on these results we discuss implications for competition policy and further research.

Keywords: Cartels; Collusion; Social networks; Trust; Antitrust (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D43 K42 L41 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10657-023-09780-x Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
Working Paper: The Sociology of Cartels (2022)
Working Paper: The sociology of cartels (2022)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:kap:ejlwec:v:56:y:2023:i:2:d:10.1007_s10657-023-09780-x

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/journal/10657

DOI: 10.1007/s10657-023-09780-x

Access Statistics for this article

European Journal of Law and Economics is currently edited by Jürgen Georg Backhaus, Giovanni B. Ramello and Alain Marciano

More articles in European Journal of Law and Economics from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().