An Empirical Survey of Price Fixing Conspiracies

This paper reports on a study of recent Antitrust Division horizontal price fixing cases. The objective of the study was to determine if there has been a specific set of characteristics associated with the product or product markets that have been the subjects of price fixing. If such a pattern exists, it might provide empirical insight into some aspects of oligopoly behavior. From a policy point of view, any pattern that is found could be used in a positive enforcement program designed to investigate the "most likely" areas of price fixing. Section I reviews the academic literature which has dealt with the problem of horizontal conspiracy; Section II describes the sample and the methodology used in the study; and Section III summarizes the results.