Collusion

From Conservapedia
This is an old revision of this page, as edited by RobSmith (Talk | contribs) at 04:58, August 8, 2018. It may differ significantly from current revision.

Jump to: navigation, search

Collusion, in economics, is an agreement among members of a cartel in a particular industry not to compete in order to create artificial disincentives for new competitors.[1] In the United States it is illegal under the Sherman Anti-Trust Act.

Typically, collusion occurs when a group of large competitors, a cartel, divy up market share among themselves to gain monopoly control,[2] and manipulate prices and profitability to make it impossible for a start-up competitor to gain market access.[3] Thus, the public is denied the benefits of lower prices and improvements that come with time. It's also called "price rigging" or "unfair competition."

The OPEC cartel is an example of competitors in an industry colluding together to limit production and set prices. Each member agrees to a production quote which, cummulatively, sets the world price. If a member exceeds its production quota, it has the effect of driving down the world price and profitability of all members. If all members exceed their quota, a price war erupts from which some members may not survive.

When the government grants protection or assents to collusion and monopoly control by not enforcing anti-Trust laws, it is referred to as "corporate cronyism."

Tech company collusion

In August 2018 the large tech firms Apple, Facebook, Google and others, colluded, in the space of 12 hours, to deny InfoWars access to social media. InfoWars was a fast rising Media Production site surpassing the BBC and other large News and Media sites in viewership and market share.[4]

See also

References

  1. Or Barriers to entry into a market or industry.
  2. A cartel with monopoly control is sometimes referred to as an oligopoly.
  3. Adam Smith said, "People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices." https://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/Cartels.html
  4. https://www.infowars.com/infowars-surges-31-spots-in-media-site-rankings-in-one-month/