Partners Rachel Grinberg and Leslie Marx co-authored a chapter in the new book Cartels Diagnosed: New Insights on Collusion, edited by Joseph E. Harrington, Jr. and Maarten Pieter Schinkel.
Although the use of price-sharing devices is not new, the type of systems used have evolved. In their chapter “The Role of Platforms for Facilitating Anticompetitive Communication,” Drs. Grinberg and Marx examine the advancing mechanisms of price-fixing conspiracies, highlighting the shift from traditional communication methods to digital platforms.
While explicit collusion, such as meetings or written agreements, may be absent, the case study Drs. Grinberg and Marx discuss—retail gasoline in Australia, where price signaling occurred through a third-party data subscription service—demonstrates how information-sharing platforms facilitate anticompetitive conduct by reducing the cost of price signaling and enhancing its effectiveness in coordinating prices. The case study underlines competitive concerns associated with price-sharing platforms and the need for rigorous analysis in connection with digital platforms and pricing algorithms.
The chapter co-authors are David P. Byrne and Nicolas de Roos.
For more information or to purchase the book, click here.
