How Cartels Really Work, Episode 1: What Makes Something a Cartel?

Opublikowano: 2026-09-10

Two gas stations competing with each other charge $4.50 each. That alone does not tell us whether they formed a cartel. They may incur the same costs. They may react to each other’s prices independently. Repeated interaction may teach them not to start price wars. Economists might refer to the result as tacit collusion. Or they may have conspired to set prices. In the first episode of How Cartels Really Work, EconWorks explores the boundary between competition and cartel behavior—and why the economic outcome alone can’t tell us where firms fall on tha...