Information Exchange – An Underappreciated Anticompetitive Strategy

Information exchanges among competitors can seriously harm competition. Because such exchanges evidence an agreement, the appropriate legal question is whether the exchange involves a restraint on competition, i.e. a mutual forbearance. Exchanges among price takers in competitive markets do not imply any restraint on individual freedom of action, but when the parties are rivals for business, the risk is substantial. If the information exchanged is not consistent with what true competitors would