Impossibility of Collusion under Imperfect Monitoring with Flexible Production

S-Tier
Journal: American Economic Review
Year: 2007
Volume: 97
Issue: 5
Pages: 1794-1823

Authors (2)

Yuliy Sannikov (not in RePEc) Andrzej Skrzypacz (Stanford University)

Score contribution per author:

4.022 = (α=2.01 / 2 authors) × 4.0x S-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

We show that it is impossible to achieve collusion in a duopoly when (a) goods are homogenous and firms compete in quantities; (b) new, noisy information arrives continuously, without sudden events; and (c) firms are able to respond to new information quickly. The result holds even if we allow for asymmetric equilibria or monetary transfers. The intuition is that the flexibility to respond quickly to new information unravels any collusive scheme. Our result applies to both a simple stationary model and a more complicated one, with prices following a mean-reverting Markov process, as well as to models of dynamic cooperation in many other settings. (JEL D43, L12, L13)

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:aea:aecrev:v:97:y:2007:i:5:p:1794-1823
Journal Field
General
Author Count
2
Added to Database
2026-01-29