Developing More Vigorous Anti-cartel Enforcement by Promoting Deterrence

In spite of the many successes in the fight against cartels, enforcement is likely to be suboptimal because competition authorities systematically underdeter cartel formation. The reason is simple: convicted cartels are observed, deterred cartels are not. Consequently, many decisions by a competition authority will be driven by a desire to convict cartels – as that is an observable measure upon which to assess performance – which will be to the neglect of deterring cartels. Underdeterrence m