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fines , leniency , and rewards in antitrust
Author(s) -
Bigoni Maria,
Fridolfsson SvenOlof,
Le Coq Chloé,
Spagnolo Giancarlo
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
the rand journal of economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.687
H-Index - 108
eISSN - 1756-2171
pISSN - 0741-6261
DOI - 10.1111/j.1756-2171.2012.00170.x
Subject(s) - cartel , deterrence (psychology) , deterrence theory , economics , language change , microeconomics , business , collusion , law and economics , law , political science , art , literature
This article reports results from an experiment studying how FINES, LENIENCY, and REWARDS for whistleblowers affect cartel formation and prices. Antitrust without LENIENCY reduces cartel formation but increases cartel prices: subjects use costly FINES as punishments. LENIENCY improves antitrust by strengthening deterrence but stabilizes surviving cartels: subjects appear to anticipate the lower postconviction prices after reports/LENIENCY. With REWARDS, prices fall at the competitive level. Overall, our results suggest a strong cartel deterrence potential for well‐run LENIENCY and REWARD schemes. These findings may also be relevant for similar white‐collar organized crimes, such as corruption and fraud.