How Much Do Cartel Overcharge?

B-Tier
Journal: Review of Industrial Organization
Year: 2015
Volume: 47
Issue: 2
Pages: 119-153

Score contribution per author:

1.005 = (α=2.01 / 2 authors) × 1.0x B-tier

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

Abstract

Connor and Lande (Issues in competition law and policy, pp 2203–2218, 2008 ) conducted a survey of cartels and found a mean overcharge estimate in the range of 31–49 %. By examining more sources, Connor (Price-fixing overcharges, 2nd edn. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1610262 , 2010 ) finds a mean of 50.4 % for successful cartels. However, the data that are used in those studies are estimates that are obtained from different methodologies, sources, and contexts rather than from direct observation. We conduct a meta-analysis of cartel overcharge estimates that provides a sound treatment of these matters and other data problems. We find a bias-corrected mean and median overcharge estimate of 15.47 and 16.01 %. Our results have significant antitrust policy implications. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media New York 2015

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:kap:revind:v:47:y:2015:i:2:p:119-153
Journal Field
Industrial Organization
Author Count
2
Added to Database
2026-01-24