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Optimal Collusion with Internal Contracting

Author

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  • Gea Myoung Lee

    (School of Economics, Singapore Management University)

Abstract
In this paper, we develop a model of collusion in which two firms play an infinitely repeated Bertrand game when each firm has a privately-informed agent. The colluding firms, fixing prices, allocate market shares based on the agent’s information as to cost types. We emphasize that the presence of privately-informed agents may provide firms with a strategic opportunity to exploit an interaction between internal contracting and market-sharing arrangement: the contracts with agents may be used to induce firms’ truthful communication in their collusion, and collusive market-share allocation may act to reduce the agents’ information rents.

Suggested Citation

  • Gea Myoung Lee, 2008. "Optimal Collusion with Internal Contracting," Working Papers 08-2008, Singapore Management University, School of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:siu:wpaper:08-2008
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Lee, Gea M., 2010. "Optimal collusion with internal contracting," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 68(2), pages 646-669, March.
    2. Fabian Herweg & Antonio Rosato, 2020. "Bait and ditch: Consumer naïveté and salesforce incentives," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(1), pages 97-121, January.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Optimal collusion; internal contract; privately-informed agents; price-fixing;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C73 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Stochastic and Dynamic Games; Evolutionary Games
    • L13 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets
    • L14 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Transactional Relationships; Contracts and Reputation

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