Background
Cartels are cooperations among competing firms aiming to control various elements of the business environment to restrict competition and increase their profits by manipulating market dynamics, especially prices or production levels.
Historical Context
Cartels have historically emerged in various industries where there is incentive for firms to collaborate rather than compete. Notably, the mid-20th century saw several high-profile cartels, with varying degrees of legality depending on the jurisdiction and the evolving economic policies worldwide. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is a prominent and historical example, formed in 1960, to co-ordinate and unify petroleum policies among Member Countries.
Definitions and Concepts
A cartel is a formal or informal agreement among a number of firms (or countries in some cases) in an industry to restrict competition. This could include activities such as setting minimum prices, limiting production output, sectioning off market territories, and restricting new market entries.
Major Analytical Frameworks
Classical Economics
Classical economics typically advocates for a free market approach and regards cartels as damaging to free competition and market efficiency, often leading to monopolistic practices harmful to consumers.
Neoclassical Economics
Neoclassical economics similarly examines cartels as entities that deviate from ideal market competition, causing deadweight loss owing to elevated prices and reduced outputs compared to perfectly competitive markets.
Keynesian Economics
From a Keynesian perspective, the impact of cartels can be multifaceted. While Keynesian theory doesn’t focus directly on cartels, interventions can be justified during periods of economic instability, where controlling supply and prices might stabilize an economy.
Marxian Economics
Marxian economists view cartels as part of the inevitable concentration of capital – manifestations of monopoly capitalism where the primary goal is the maximization of profits at the expense of workers and consumers’ welfare.
Institutional Economics
Institutional economics might examine how cartels form through the interactions within institutional frameworks, focusing on regulatory laws, corporate governance, and enforcement mechanisms.
Behavioral Economics
Behavioral economics can provide insights into the internal and external motivations behind cartel formations, focusing on trust, punishment, and the human elements influencing collective actions and the propensity to cheat within cartels.
Post-Keynesian Economics
Post-Keynesian theory sees price-setting and market share negotiations inherent in cartels as distortive mechanisms on market realities, suggesting more strategic participation and regulation to control when necessary.
Austrian Economics
Austrian economists, who emphasize the decentralized market decisions, criticize cartels as contradictions to entrepreneurial dynamism and favor market self-regulation mechanisms over government intervention.
Development Economics
Development economists might analyze how cartels impact emerging economies, including how they might serve or hinder development depending largely on the industry and level of enforcement of competitive pricing.
Monetarism
Monetarism’s focus on money supply control would find cartel-induced price levels and inflationary pressures as outside market-clearing phenomena, introducing layers of inefficiencies.
Comparative Analysis
Studying cartels could adopt comparative frameworks analyzing case histories of specific cartels like the diamond industry’s De Beers, historical copper, steel industries, and contrast against OPEC’s long-lasting quasi-cartel structure faced with varying compliance levels and outputs.
Case Studies
- OPEC: Formation, evolution, and impact on global oil prices.
- De Beers Diamond Company: Control over supply and prices in the diamond market.
- Lysine Price-Fixing Conspiracy: Collusion among global firms producing dietary supplements for livestock.
Suggested Books for Further Studies
- “The Competitive Advantage of Nations” by Michael E. Porter
- “Prince of Play: The Corporative Control of a Supply Chain” by Pieter Uwe Hendrix.
- “Global Price Fixing” by John M. Connor
Related Terms with Definitions
- Collusion: The secret agreement or cooperation between rival firms to limit competition.
- Price Fixing: The establishing of the price of a product or service, rather than allowing it to be determined naturally through free-market forces.
- Market Division: An agreement between competitors to divide markets amongst themselves.
- Monopoly: The exclusive control over the market by a single entity.
- Oligopoly: A market structure characterized by a few firms dominating the market.
